DHS secretary pushes back on ‘misperception’ that Mexico is not a good partner in fight against fentanyl

Story by Lauren Sforza • Yesterday 

DHS secretary pushes back on ‘misperception’ that Mexico is not a good partner in fight against fentanyl© Provided by The Hill

Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed back Sunday on the “misperception” that Mexico does not aid in the fight against fentanyl, noting that the country is an ally in the effort against the drug.

When asked about the fentanyl crisis by NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” Mayorkas responded that “there’s a misperception that Mexico is not a good partner,” when combatting the spread of fentanyl.

“They are an ally. And we have a very close partnership with them,” Mayorkas added.

When asked why Mexico does not help with the issue of fentanyl, the secretary reiterated that it is a “misconception” that Mexico does not help, adding that the department has personnel in Mexico to address any fentanyl issues with the U.S. border. He said that while he can’t speak for Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the U.S. does work closely with partners in Mexico to address the crisis.

“I can’t speak to his public statements,” Mayorkas said. “I can speak to what happens on the ground operationally. And we work very closely with our Mexican partners. You know, that fentanyl though, you know, the precursor chemicals, the equipment used to manufacture it, much of it originates in China. And we’ve got to stop that flow.”

Mayorkas has been under fire by Republicans for his handling of the Mexico-US border, especially regarding the issue of fentanyl trafficking. GOP senators introduced a bill earlier this month that would designate nine separate drug cartels in Mexico as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), saying that those organizations are responsible for fentanyl in the United States.

Nikole Hannah-Jones On Controversy Around ‘The 1619 Project’: “This Is Not Actually A Radical Project” – Contenders TV: Docs + Unscripted
Story by Matthew Carey • Saturday


The 1619 Project, according to one description, “illuminates the legacy of slavery in the contemporary United States, and highlights the contributions of Black Americans to every aspect of American society.” Nothing controversial there, right? Wrong.

The initiative, which originated with a New York Times Magazine issue and has now been adapted into a Hulu documentary series, has triggered passionate reactions from the start.

“This project has come out in a time where we have deep, deep societal polarization,” series host and executive producer Nikole Hannah-Jones noted during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted event. Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for the print series. The furor notwithstanding, she maintained, “This is not actually a radical project. It’s based on decades of scholarship and within the history profession the ideas that we put forth are actually not that controversial. … Many Americans have been open to its arguments.”

Across six episodes, The 1619 Project examines the historical antecedents behind systemic racial injustice evident in policing, health care, wealth inequality, even capitalism itself.

“This isn’t just Black history, it’s American history. And these things impact all of us,” said Shoshana Guy, the series’ executive producer and showrunner. Guy was among those charged with turning the print series into a cinematic experience. “Our producers, our directors were constantly workshopping, coming up with ideas and ways to bring these stories to life,” she said.

Publication of The 1619 Project four years ago set off the virulent debate over “critical race theory.” Since then, Florida has led an effort by a number of states to control how history is taught in schools, prompting some textbook publishers to offer revisions to reading materials. For instance, one publisher put a new spin on Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white patron on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL in 1955. The revised wording reportedly omits any reference to race: “Rosa Parks showed courage. One day, she rode the bus. She was told to move to a different seat. She did not. She did what she believed was right.”

“In the state of Florida, the Department of Education there has prohibited the teaching of The 1619 Project in public schools,” Hannah-Jones said. “So, what you’re seeing is a response to that where we deracialize the story of Rosa Parks — which you cannot do, because Rosa Parks was standing up against the system of racial apartheid. And the reason she had to give up that seat was because she was a Black woman, not just because someone was being mean to her.”

Hannah-Jones added, “What that tells us is that we have people who are actually so ashamed of our history that they don’t believe that we can tell it truthfully and still believe in these ideas of American exceptionalism.”

U$ Supreme Court to consider overruling Chevron doctrine

Story by Zach Schonfeld 

The Hill

The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear a case that could significantly scale back federal agencies’ authority, with major implications for the future of environmental and other regulations.

The justices next term will consider whether to overturn a decades-old precedent that grants agencies deference when Congress left ambiguity in a statute.

Named for the court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the Chevron deference has become one of the most frequently cited precedents in administrative law since the decision was first handed down in 1984.

It involves a two-step test: first, judges decide if Congress has in the statute directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If it is ambiguous, courts defer to agencies as long as their actions are based on a “permissible construction.

Some of the high court’s conservatives have raised concern about the precedent and how it has expanded the reach of agencies’ authority.

Now, the justices will take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn it. The high court announced the move on Monday in a brief, unsigned order, as is typical, indicating at least four justices agreed to take up the case.

Herring fishing company Loper Bright Enterprises is appealing a ruling that left in place a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulation based on the doctrine.

The regulation requires herring fishing boats to allow a federal observer aboard to oversee operations and compensate them for their time. The company argues the regulation significantly decreases their profit margin, and the agency had no authorization to impose it.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of the federal government, deferring to NMFS after finding that the law at issue was ambiguous.

“Nearly four decades of judicial experience with Chevron have demonstrated that courts are incapable of applying its two-step Chevron framework in a consistent manner,” attorneys for Loper Bright Enterprises wrote in court filings.

How Whitesand First Nation tackles food insecurity through its community market

Story by Jasmine Kabatay • CBC

For people across Canada and beyond, rising costs and inflation have been hitting them hard.

In northwestern Ontario, higher living costs have meant some First Nations are finding creative solutions to an ongoing and longstanding problem.

Since October, Whitesand First Nation — which is 250 kilometres, or about a three-hour drive, north of Thunder Bay — has been holding a community food market every Wednesday since last October.

Community members in the Ojibway First Nation can access fresh fruits and vegetables, along with other items like bread, at an affordable price — and they're all brought to their community

Angela Nodin, health co-ordinator for Whitesand First Nation, said people there originally heard about such a food market after the neighbouring Ojibway community of Gull Bay First Nation started one. Whitesand then knew they too wanted to get in on it, for good reasons.

Indigenous people living in Canada experience food insecurity — defined as a lack of regular access to safe, nutritious food — at higher rates than non-Indigenous people.

A 2018 national survey by the First Nations Information Governance Centre indicated over half of Indigenous households experience food insecurity. According to research from the University of Toronto, just one in eight Canadian households overall suffers from food insecurity.

A community effort

Whitesand First Nation is one of five locations within Thunder Bay and the region where the Roots Community Food Group, or Roots to Harvest, runs a market.

Roots Community Food Group provides the food while the community sponsors a driver to bring items there weekly.

Getting people to the Whitesand market was slow at first, but it grew and got so popular that it draws lineups of people looking to pick up food items.

"The only time we took a break was during the Christmas holidays, and then it was slow starting back up because they were thinking we weren't going to be consistent. But now…we sell out pretty much every week," said Nodin.

Related video: PM unveils $8.2B for B.C. First Nations health (The Canadian Press)

Duration 1:17 View on Watch

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1:28

A van gets loaded up with fresh fruits and vegetables for Whitesand First Nation's community food market.© Marc Doucette/CBC

Nodin said it's become so popular that they're thinking of purchasing a larger van to be able to stock more fruits and vegetables for the market, and they're expanding by buying bread makers to make their own fresh supply.

She said that each week, the community gets different items to try, allowing community members to expand their food choices. It's also a learning experience, through community kitchens.

"So if you had something new like zucchini, they would do a recipe," said Nodin. "We look at what's out on the… community market and then when we do community kitchen, we'll try to incorporate that type of food."

Erin Beagle, executive director of Roots to Harvest, said her organization runs five community food markets in Thunder Bay and the surrounding region, including Whitesand First Nation, to make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible because they play a pivotal role in health and well-being.

"When you can't access fruit and vegetables, if you have diabetes or renal issues, those are accentuated because you can't get the food that sort of helps you be healthy. Also its [preventive] measures too [as] people are more at risk of diet-related diseases."



Erin Beagle, executive director of Roots Community Food Group, runs five community markets within Thunder Bay and the region, including in Whitesand First Nation.

© Marc Doucette/CBC

Pineshi Gustin, an elder living in Whitesand First Nation, said the local grocery service doesn't offer the produce she and her family need, including for health reasons.

"We do less processed food eating in our house, so this service here in the community that you see today is great. It offers better food."

Gustin also said the community market is good for elders and seniors, people with disabilities, low-income households and shoppers without a vehicle.

She looks forward to Wednesdays, knowing she'll get fresh produce for herself and to pick up items for her brother, who can't get to the market.

Helen Kwandebance, a community wellness worker for Whitesand First Nation, said everybody works together to ensure the market is a success, including reducing wait times at the cashier.



Community members in Whitesand First Nation stand in line to pay for their items

© Marc Doucette/CBC

Kwandebance said she loves helping out her colleague taking payments, as she gets to greet people and mingle with them.

The teamwork and partnership between the community and Roots to Harvest is what makes the market work, Kwandebance said, adding that Beagle has come to the community to see Whitesand's efforts, as every market has a different routine.

Kwandebance recalls listening to some women chat in line about a certain type of produce she picked up at the market, and it was half the price of a similar item in a grocery store.

"It was nice to hear the difference of shopping in Thunder Bay because Thunder Bay is our nearest big city, right? It saves them time from travelling to Thunder Bay and one of the other ladies did say it was a lot fresher than as if we were to buy it in Thunder Bay or at our local store."

Curve Lake First Nation Chief Elsie Knott featured on proposed $20 bill

Story by The Canadian Press 

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is leading a campaign calling for an Indigenous woman to be featured on the $20 bill to replace Queen Elizabeth II.

The Change the Bill campaign seeks to foster reconciliation through art by commissioning Indigenous artists to reimagine the banknote with notable Indigenous women. Featuring an Indigenous “hero” on a redesigned bill — a move that is “long overdue” — would be a significant step toward recognizing the important, yet often overlooked, contributions of Indigenous women, according to the group.

As part of the campaign, Canadians are encouraged to sign a petition to support the movement. On the association’s website, a dozen important Indigenous women figures are displayed as potential replacements, along with a reimagined artistic rendering of a new bill created by various Indigenous artists.

Among the 12 women is Elsie Knott — the first woman in Canada to serve as a First Nations chief — who led Curve Lake First Nation for several years.

Knott, born in 1922, was first elected in 1954 — three years after Indigenous women were given the right to vote in band elections and serve on band councils under the Indian Act. She acted as chief until 1960 before being re-elected a decade later. Knott served as chief until 1976.

Knott is known for her commitment to bettering the quality of life and living conditions for her community’s members. Notably, Knott worked to improve water quality, housing, social services, infrastructure, and other aspects of the community.

She was also a dedicated proponent for protecting, preserving and passing along Ojibway culture and traditions, and helped form an Ojibway language program at the Curve Lake First Nation School.

Knott died in 1995.

Four years later, her life, community advocacy and political career was honoured with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Union of Ontario Indians.

The artistic interpretation of Knott on a new bank note was created by Curve Lake First Nation artist Anna Heffernan. Heffernan decided to feature Knott “out of respect for her service to their community, and because she is proud of their community for their early embrace of women in leadership,” according to the association’s website.

Current Curve Lake First Nation Chief Keith Knott says he thinks Elsie Knott is a perfect fit to be featured on a new banknote.

“It’s an excellent idea,” he said. “It would be a great piece of memorabilia for one the leaders of our community many years ago.”

Years ago, he served on Curve Lake First Nation’s council when Elsie Knott was chief.

“Future leadership could identify within themselves that there’s always that role to play within a community, and I think she would be a great role model for members in the community — for women and men to be recognized in such a national way; to have your community recognized in that fashion,” he said.

So far, the petition has garnered over 34,680 signatures — quickly approaching its goal of 35,000 names.

The next step is to “keep up the pressure and keep the campaign alive by engaging organizations and individuals Canada-wide,” stated a spokesperson for the association.

Schools, organizations, influencers and leaders will be contacted to join the campaign’s next phase.

While the association has met with the Bank of Canada’s governor and the Royal Canadian Mint, it’s ultimately up to the finance minister and the federal government to make a final decision related to bank note changes.

“The next phase of our campaign will ensure that a wide range of voices across the country are engaged and are heard in the minister’s office, each supporting our campaign,” added the spokesperson.

Brendan Burke is a staff reporter at the Examiner, based in Peterborough. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.

Brendan Burke, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Peterborough Examiner

Enbridge acquires gas storage facility in British Columbia for $295 million

Story by Reuters • 

Illustration shows Enbridge Inc logo© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc said on Monday it would acquire Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility in British Columbia (B.C.) from FortisBC Holdings Inc for C$400 million ($294.68 million).

Aitken Creek Storage is an underground reservoir located in the Montney area, one of Canada's most attractive oil regions.

The storage facility, which is connected to all three major long-haul natural gas transportation lines in Western Canada including Enbridge's Westcoast Pipeline and Alliance Pipeline, has a working storage capacity of 77 billion cubic feet, the company said.

The transaction is expected to close this year.

The Canadian province of B.C. is witnessing a flurry of LNG projects as the world tries to secure alternatives to Russian gas supply following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

($1 = 1.3574 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

Montney Formation - Wikipedia

The Montney Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Lower Triassic age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in British Columbia and Alberta.

It takes the name from the hamlet of Montney and was first described in Texaco's Buick Creek No. 7 well by J.H. Armitage in 1962.^[3] The well was drilled 41 kilometers (25 mi) north of Fort St. John, immediately east of the Alaska Highway.

Private jet sales likely to reach highest ever level this year, report says

Story by Fiona Harvey

 Environment editor •  The Guardian

Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters© Provided by The Guardian

Sales of private jets are likely to reach their highest ever level this year, placing an increasing burden on the planet, while many of the owners escape aviation taxes, and there are few curbs on the greenhouse gases emitted, according to a report.

The global fleet of private jets has more than doubled in the last two decades, and more private flights were made last year than ever before, according to a thinktank report published on Monday. Greenhouse gas emissions from private aviation have increased by nearly a quarter since the pandemic, when flying of all types nearly ceased in many countries for an extended period.

Related: Will flying ever be green? – podcast

There were 5.3m private flights globally in 2022, according to the report compiled by the US Institute for Policy Studies thinktank and the Patriotic Millionaires US group, which is made up of wealthy individuals pushing for higher wealth taxes.

Last year was the first time that private aviation surpassed its previous peak, which came in 2007, before the financial crisis of 2008-09 and global recession. Sales of pre-owned and new private jets are forecast to reach $34.6bn (£27.6bn) this year, up from $34.1bn last year.

Although private jet travel makes up only 4% of the global aviation market, it produces about 10 times as much greenhouse gas per passenger.

Stephen Prince, the vice-chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, and founder of Card Marketing Services, said he was giving up his aircraft. “Flying on a private jet is amazing, it’s the best travel experience ever,” he said. “But having read this report, I’ve decided to sell my jet. It’s virtually impossible to square any iota of concern about the environment and humanity with the supreme selfishness of jumping on a big jet all by myself. It’s simply not right.”

In the US, still the global leader in private and business jet travel, passengers on commercial flights are in effect subsidising private flying. Taxes on private aviation raised only 2% of the tax revenue that is the primary funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, which operates air traffic control, even though private jets accounted for 17% of the flights handled.

Chuck Collins, co-author of the report, director of the programme on inequality and the common good, at the Institute for Policy Studies, said: “Private jet travel by billionaires and the ultra wealthy imposes a tremendous cost on the rest of us. Not only do ordinary travellers and taxpayers subsidise the airspace for private jets, but the high flyers also contribute considerably more pollution than other passengers. If we can’t ban private jets, we should at least tax them and require them to pay to offset their environmental damage and subsidies.”

The Patriotic Millionaires group recommends a 10% tax on all purchases of second-hand private jets, and a 5% tax on new aircraft. This would have raised $2.6bn in tax last year, the report found. The group also wants at least a doubling of fuel taxes on private jet travel, compared with commercial aviation.

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter and founder of Tesla, who was outraged earlier this year when a tracker published details of his private jet activity, was named in the report as “the most active high flyer in the US”. He bought a new jet, made an estimated 171 flights in 2022, including one that lasted only six minutes, and contributed to the consumption of more than 800,000 litres of jet fuel, and was responsible for more than 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

He would have paid $4m in private jet taxes last year, if the proposed tax increases were implemented.

Lordstown Motors Accuses Foxconn of Trying to Back Out of Investment

Story by Will Feuer • WSJ

Lordstown Motors Accuses Foxconn of Trying to Back Out of Investment© QUINN GLABICKI/REUTERS

Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer for electronics, is trying to back out of its deal to increase its stake in Lordstown Motors Corp., the electric-vehicle startup said.

Foxconn agreed in November to spend up to $170 million to buy both common stock and newly created preferred shares in Lordstown in a crucial cash injection for the startup, which was still working to increase production of its debut EV truck, called the Endurance.

Lordstown said Monday that Foxconn closed part of the investment agreement in November, buying about $22.7 million of Class A common stock and $30 million of preferred stock.

Foxconn didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to Lordstown, Foxconn agreed to further buy about 26.9 million shares of Lordstown shares for about $47.3 million within 10 business days after the companies received clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Lordstown said it received Cfius clearance on April 25, giving the companies until May 8 to close the latest round of investment.

However, Lordstown said it received notice from Foxconn on April 21 that asserted Lordstown has breached the terms of the deal by allowing its stock price to fall below $1.00 a share for too long, putting it out of compliance with Nasdaq listing rules.

Foxconn said it would back out of the deal if the breach isn’t resolved within 30 days, Lordstown said Monday. Lordstown said it responded to Foxconn, disputing its ability to back out of the deal.

Lordstown said it believes the deal remains intact and the company intends to enforce its rights under the deal.

“The company is in discussions with Foxconn to seek a resolution regarding these matters,” Lordstown said in a securities filing.

Shares of Lordstown fell almost 26%, to 39 cents, in morning trading.

Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com

Al Jazeera says long-held correspondent released in Egypt

Story by The Canadian Press • 

Al Jazeera says long-held correspondent released in Egypt© Provided by The Canadian Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The satellite news network Al Jazeera said Monday that a correspondent for one of its channels held in Egypt since 2019 has been released from pre-trial detention.

The Qatar-funded network in Doha said that Hisham Abdel Aziz, a producer with its Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, had been freed.

Authorities in Egypt did not acknowledge his release. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He was freed on Sunday, said Khaled el-Balshy, head of Egypt’s Journalists’ Union. Abdel Aziz's wife posted an image Sunday of Abdel Aziz online, thanking God for him.

The network has said that Abdel Aziz, an Egyptian who had been based in Qatar for the public affairs channel, was stopped at Cairo International Airport in June 2019 while he was traveling for a family trip. They say he was “subjected to enforced disappearance for around a month” before being found in custody. In the time since, authorities repeatedly had applied and been granted repeated 45-day extensions for his detention.

Related video: Al Jazeera presses White House on condemnation of Israeli Al-Aqsa (Al Jazeera) Duration 1:19 View on Watch

Al Jazeera long had been targeted by Cairo since the country's 2013 military takeover that installed Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi into the presidency. Qatar had backed Egypt's elected president, the late Islamist Mohammed Morsi, after the 2011 Arab Spring. Morsi belonged to the pan-Arab Islamic group the Muslim Brotherhood, viewed by some Gulf Arab nations as a threat to their hereditary rule.

Amid the 2013 takeover, Al Jazeera's channels covered many of the Brotherhood's protests live, to the anger of Egypt's military government. Egypt revoked Al Jazeera’s press credentials, raided its offices and arrested several reporters. The arrest and trial of three Al Jazeera English journalists — Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed — sparked an international outcry.

The three received 10-year prison sentences, but were later released in 2015.

Egypt joined Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in boycotting the country in a political dispute that lasted from 2017 until 2021.

However, the release comes as Qatar has been normalizing its diplomatic relations with those who launched the boycott. El-Sissi also attended the opening last year of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the invitation of its ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Al Jazeera says two more of its journalists remained detained by Egypt, who also had been detained while on vacations there.

Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

Israel's judicial proposals prompt startups to relocate -govt agency

Story by By Steven Scheer • 

 Israel's hi-tech sector protests against Israeli government's judicial overhaul, in

ÊTel Aviv

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The government's plan to overhaul the judicial system is harming investor confidence and pushing high-tech firms to relocate abroad, Israel's state-backed agency that supports high-tech companies said on Monday.

A survey by the Israel Innovation Authority found 80% of startups established so far this year were opened outside Israel and that companies also intend to register their future intellectual property overseas - which would result in a severe blow to Israel's tax coffers.

Israel's high-tech sector employs 10% of the country's workforce accounting for around 15% of economic output, more than half of exports and a quarter of tax income.

Proposals by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right coalition to give the government greater say in the selection of judges while limiting the Supreme Court's power to strike down legislation have worried current and potential investors.

Opponents say the proposals would remove vital checks and balances, threaten minority rights and undermine Israel's democratic foundations.

Final approval of the government's bitterly disputed judicial overhaul package has been delayed after widespread protests to try and find a compromise between proponents and opponents.

"Even if the legal-judicial crisis is solved, it will take time to reach a solution, and even after this, it will take time to build confidence with investors once more," said Dror Bin, chief executive of the Innovation Authority, adding that the legal plan was exacerbating harm from a weaker economy.

Benny Gantz, head of the largest opposition party, said Israeli parties have made no progress towards a compromise after a month of meetings.

"We set out with a number of principles, first and foremost that there will be no politicisation of the judicial system. It hasn't changed and it won't change," he said, as the Knesset parliament returned from its spring break.

In a report delivered to of Innovation, Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, the Innovation Authority cited a significant gap between tech stocks traded in Tel Aviv and on Nasdaq.

While the Nasdaq is up 17% this year, Israel's tech index is down 4%.

Should the gap widen further, "many Israeli hi-tech companies will find it very hard to raise investment and will be forced to close or move to other countries," it said.

It added that high-tech fundraising in the first quarter was just $1.7 billion, the lowest quarterly figure since 2019.

The authority recommended a number of steps such as easing regulations, incentives to encourage investment and incentives for startups to register intellectual property in Israel.

"The findings...require the government to take rapid action in order to reverse the worrying trends it highlights," said Akunis, a long-time Netanyahu adviser.

(Reporting by Steven ScheerEditing by Christina Fincher)