Opinion

US plummeted in world happiness ranking because of young people like me. I'll tell you why.

Sara Pequeño, USA TODAY

Updated Mon, March 25, 2024 

Young people in the United States aren’t happy. At least, that’s the takeaway from this year’s World Happiness Report.

The annual analysis by Gallup, the United Nations and more ranked the United States at No. 23, knocking the country out of the top 20 for the first time ever. It’s apparently all thanks to the folks under 30 – when they’re the only ones accounted for, the country falls to 62 in the rankings.

As someone who is under 30, I’m not surprised in the slightest. In the 2021-23 period, we have experienced huge life changes amid a pandemic, a new president and persistent economic anxiety. We, collectively, aren’t OK.

The happiness scores come from six criteria – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption. Despite the large-scale criteria, I have some ideas as to why people my age are unhappier than older folks in the United States.

COVID pandemic happened right as we entered adulthood

One of the biggest sources of unhappiness for people my age has been the aftermath of COVID-19.

Think about it: For those of us entering adulthood four years ago, the “before” and “after” of the pandemic has been drastic. Some of these young people finished high school or college during COVID-19. Others were just starting their careers.

Suddenly, we all had to confront the reality of disease, of isolation and of government incompetence. Then we had to confront death – nearly 1.2 million people have died of COVID-19 since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking cases in 2020.

Then came the economic ramifications. A USA TODAY analysis of Medicaid data revealed a 17% increase in Zoloft prescriptions from 2019 to 2022, and a 12% increase in mental health drug prescriptions overall.

Groceries got more expensive. Student loan payments restarted after a three-year pause. The cost of renting increased 15% between 2020 and 2022, and Redfin data from 2023 showed a 44% increase in the country’s median home price since January 2020.

For people under 30, these financial stressors hit during a coming-of-age period that is defined by the very things that went upside down.

Conversely, there have also been increases in youth suicide and homicide rates since the start of the pandemic. These deaths also affect the emotional well-being of everyone in the victim’s immediate network.

Everyone went through the pandemic. The fact that it hit at such a specific time – when so many of us were transitioning to adulthood – made it difficult, and the "after" is still being felt.

Don't believe Gen Z will vote for Biden. My generation is up for grabs this election.

Gen Z lost rights while gaining political polarization

One of the other reasons young people in the United States may be feeling down is the loss of a right that our parents had – the right to an abortion nationwide. This is something that has disproportionately affected young women in particular, to the point that it will be a deciding factor come November.

According to KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation), 1 in 8 voters now say abortion is most important to their vote. Last year, Gallup polling showed that 48% of 18- to 29-year-olds want legal abortion under any circumstances, and that 41% say it should be legal under certain circumstances.


Abortion rights advocates rally outside the US Supreme Court on April 14, 2023, in Washington, DC, speaking out over abortion pill restrictions. - The US Justice Department said April 13, it will go to the Supreme Court to appeal restrictions imposed on mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill, in the latest round of a fierce battle over reproductive rights.

 (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP) 

Aside from the loss of Roe v. Wade, we're also in an election year. Right now, it feels like political polarization is at an all-time high, because we are being inundated with rhetoric. Everywhere you turn, political ads are reminding us of what is at stake this election – the reality of four more years of former President Donald Trump and his antics, or four more years of President Joe Biden and traditional Democratic politics despite a desire for something more.

Social media, doomscrolling impact mental health

A lot of this bubbles to the surface on social media, which already has proved to have negative effects on mental health. For me, using platforms like X and Instagram either leads to doomscrolling or a never-ending feed of consumer culture – people telling me what to buy, whether they're influencers or advertisers.

Biden, focus on voters not memes: I don't want my president to be a TikTok influencer. Biden is wasting time making jokes.

The solution to this, of course, is for us to use social media less. That's easier said than done when there are so many of us who rely on social media to grow our professional network, find new clients or simply to keep up with our friends.

Maybe it's easier for people who grew up without social media to give it up. It's harder for us who grew up through social media to see a world without it, even if it might make us happier.

OK, boomer: US ranks No. 10 when only older Americans are counted

The over-60 crowd in the United States seems much happier than their young counterparts. The country ranks 10th in the World Happiness Report when only that demographic counted.

Obviously, something has made their lives more bearable. They might be closer to paying off debts, or close to the possibility of retirement. Maybe it’s their marriage or children. Or maybe they're all fibbing and actually feel dreadful.

I’m jealous of the joy boomers and the Silent Generation apparently possess.

Or maybe the reality is that things are, in fact, not OK. We have lived through unprecedented times for the past few years, and now we're seeing the aftermath. It's not really surprising that young people aren't as happy as the rest of you – just don't expect us to grin and bear it, please.

USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Young people in US are unhappy. For Gen Z, that's not a surprise

Japan approves plan to sell fighter jets to other nations in latest break from pacifist principles

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Updated Mon, March 25, 2024 


Britain's Defense Minister Grant Shapps, right, Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, left, and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, center, attend a joint press conference after a signing ceremony for Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) at the defense ministry on Dec. 14, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan. Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries, in the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles. 

(David Mareuil/Pool Photo via AP, File)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries, in the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.

The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project and part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security.

The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to countries other than the partners.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the changes are necessary given Japan's security environment, but stressed that Japan's pacifist principles remain unchanged.

“In order to achieve a fighter aircraft that meets the necessary performance and to avoid jeopardizing the defense of Japan, it is necessary to transfer finished products from Japan to countries other than partner countries,” Hayashi told reporters, adding that Tokyo will follow a strict approval process for jet sales. “We have clearly demonstrated that we will continue to adhere to our basic philosophy as a peaceful nation,” he said.

Japan has long restricted arms exports under the country’s pacifist constitution, but has rapidly taken steps to deregulate amid rising regional and global tensions, especially from nearby China.

The decision on jets will allow Japan to export lethal weapons it coproduces to other countries for the first time.

Japan is working with Italy and the U.K. to develop an advanced fighter jet to replace its aging fleet of American-designed F-2 fighters, and the Eurofighter Typhoons used by the U.K. and Italian militaries.

Japan, which was previously working on a homegrown design to be called the F-X, agreed in December 2022 to merge its effort with a British-Italian program called the Tempest. for deployment in 2035. The joint project, known as the Global Combat Air Program or GCAP, is based in the U.K.

Japan hopes the new plane will offer advanced capabilities Japan needs amid growing tensions in the region, giving it a technological edge against regional rivals China and Russia.

Because of its wartime past as aggressor and the devastation that followed its defeat in World War II, Japan adopted a constitution that limits its military to self-defense. The country long maintained a strict policy to limit transfers of military equipment and technology and ban all exports of lethal weapons.

Opponents have criticized Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government for committing to the fighter jet project without providing an explanation to the public or seeking approval for the major policy change.

To address such concerns, the government is limiting exports of codeveloped lethal weapons to the jet for now, and has promised that no sales will be made for use in active wars.

The government also assured that the revised guideline for the time being only applies to the jet and that it would require Cabinet approval to do so. Potential purchasers will be also limited to the 15 countries that Japan has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals with.

Recent polls suggest that public opinion is divided on the plan.

In 2014, Japan began to export some nonlethal military supplies, and in a latest move last December, it approved a change that would allow sales of 80 lethal weapons and components that it manufactures under licenses from other countries back to the licensors. The change cleared the way for Japan to sell U.S.-designed Patriot missiles to the United States, helping replace munitions that Washington is sending to Ukraine.

In its decision, the Cabinet said that the arms export ban on finished products would hinder efforts to develop the new jet, and limit Japan to a supporting role in the project. Italy and the U.K. are eager to make sales of the jet in order to defray development and manufacturing costs.

Kishida sought Cabinet approval before signing the GCAP agreement in February, but it was delayed by resistance from his junior coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito party.

The change also comes as Kishida is planning an April state visit to Washington, where he is expected to stress Japan’s readiness to take on a greater role in military and defense industry partnerships.

Exports would also help boost Japan’s defense industry, which historically has catered only to the country’s Self Defense Force, as Kishida seeks to build up the military. Despite its effort over the past decade, the industry has still struggled to draw customers.

___

Find more of AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Indian police detain dozens of protesters demanding release of top opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal

PIYUSH NAGPAL
Tue, March 26, 2024

Members of Aam Admi Party, or Common Man's Party, shout slogans as they are detained by police during a protest against the arrest of their party leader Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Indian police have detained dozens of opposition protesters and prevented them from marching to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence to demand the release of their leader and top elected official of New Delhi who was arrested last week in a liquor bribery case. 

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police detained dozens of opposition protesters Tuesday to stop them from marching to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence to demand the release of their leader and top elected official of New Delhi arrested last week in a bribery case.

Nearly 300 supporters of Arvind Kejriwal gathered at India’s Parliament House to begin their march. Policemen, some in riot gear, surrounded the protesters and detained some.

“Long Live Kejriwal” protesters chanted while being dragged and bundled into buses and driven away by the police. They are likely to be released later in the day.

“This is a dictatorship. If someone is doing good for the public of Delhi, why arrest such a person?” Rubina Parveen, a protester, told The Associated Press. "Our voices are muzzled. The public is very angry ... If a good leader is sent to jail, then what will happen to the common public? she said.

Authorities have since banned the assembly of four or more people in the area that houses almost all key government buildings.

Kejriwal, one of the country’s most consequential politicians of the past decade and a top rival of Modi's, was arrested on March 21. He and his Aaam Admi Party, or Common Man’s Party, are accused of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago.

The party denied the accusations, saying they are fabricated by the federal agency, controlled by Modi’s government.

Kejriwal’s AAP is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA, the main challenger to Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming election.

Hundreds of Kejriwal’s supporters have been holding protests since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, the federal agency that probes economic offenses.

Kejriwal was taken into custody for seven days following a court order on Friday. His party said he would remain Delhi’s chief minister as it takes the case to court.

The federal agency accused Kejriwal of being the “kingpin and key conspirator” in the liquor bribery case. Kejriwal has refuted the allegations and accused the directorate of “manipulating investigative agencies for political motives”.

In the lead-up to the general election , starting April 19, India’s opposition parties have accused the government of misusing its power to harass and weaken its political opponents, pointing to a spree of raids, arrests and corruption investigations against key opposition figures.

Meanwhile, some probes against former opposition leaders who later defected to Modi’s BJP have been dropped.

BJP denies targeting the opposition and says law enforcement agencies act independently.


Arvind Kejriwal: Delhi chief minister remanded to custody in corruption case

BBC
Mon, March 25, 2024 

Mr Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was arrested on Thursday in connection with city's policies over alcohol sales

A court has ordered the prominent Indian opposition politician and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal be remanded in custody following his arrest over corruption allegations.

Mr Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was detained on Thursday by India's financial crimes agency.

He has denied any wrongdoing and opposition leaders say his arrest is politically motivated.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied the allegation.

The party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the authorities are acting against corruption.

Mr Kejriwal was produced in a Delhi trial court on Friday and remanded in custody until 28 March.

After he was detained, his lawyer Shadan Farasat told news agency AFP: "We are considering our next course of action."

Meanwhile, dozens of AAP leaders have been detained in the capital and sporadic protests erupted elsewhere across India against Mr Kejriwal's arrest, weeks before general elections.

AAP leaders have said that they will continue their protests and will hold one outside the prime minister's residence.

"Kejriwal has been arrested to stop him from campaigning in the general elections," said AAP leader and Delhi finance minister Atishi, who uses only one name.

"This is a way to steal elections," she added in a statement.

Mr Kejriwal's arrest by a financial crimes agency comes as a blow to the opposition just weeks before India's general elections. AAP is part of the 27-party INDIA alliance aiming to challenge the BJP.

AAP members held protests in several cities across India

Alluding to Mr Modi, Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy."

"The arrest of elected chief ministers has become a common thing," Mr Gandhi wrote.

Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), said that Mr Kejriwal's arrest showcases the "depth to which BJP will stoop for power".

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said Mr Kejriwal's arrest would "give birth to a new people's revolution".

"BJP knows that it will not come to power again, due to this fear, it wants to remove the opposition leaders from the public by any means at the time of elections, arrest is just an excuse," he posted on X.

Rahul Gandhi has called the arrest an attack on India's democratic principles

Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, said Mr Kejriwal's arrest is "outright vicious and part of a callous plot to silence all opposition voices just ahead of the general elections".

His counterpart in Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, said: "Not a single BJP leader faces scrutiny or arrest, laying bare their abuse of power and the decay of democracy."

"The relentless persecution of opposition leaders by the BJP government smacks of a desperate witch-hunt. This tyranny ignites public fury, unmasking BJP's true colours," Mr Stalin said.

In the past year or so, several opposition leaders have been imprisoned, questioned or had cases filed against them by federal agencies.

K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), was arrested in the same case as Mr Kejriwal just days ago. She denies the allegations.

In January, Hemant Soren, former Jharkhand chief minister and leader of the opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was arrested by a federal tax agency on charges of money laundering and land-grabbing. Mr Soren denies the allegations.

Mr Gandhi himself was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by a member of the BJP.

His two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament for a time until the verdict was suspended by a higher court in August last year.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was arrested by the tax agency in January

On Thursday, the Congress party accused Mr Modi's government of using the tax department to starve them of finances ahead of elections.

Mr Kejriwal is the third AAP leader to be arrested over the alleged corruption case related to a now-scrapped liquor policy in Delhi.

The Enforcement Directorate also arrested Mr Kejriwal's deputy, Manish Sisodia, and AAP lawmaker

Delhi Boosts Security Near Modi Home as Police Detain Protesters

Swati Gupta
Tue, March 26, 2024

(Bloomberg) -- As India heads into an election, follow Bloomberg India's channel on WhatsApp for how money and business intersect with politics and power. Sign up here.

Police in Delhi increased security around Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence and detained protesters after an opposition group called for demonstrations outside his home Tuesday following the arrest of their leader last week.

Delhi police detained the demonstrators and removed them from a nearby protest site by making them board buses, according to video footage from Indian media outlets. The prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata Party held its own counter-protest with no police action taken against them, the footage showed.

The protests are a reaction to the federal anti-money laundering investigative agency arresting Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, on March 21 in relation to a bribery case. Kejriwal, who is also the chief minister of Delhi, appeared at a district court the next day and was remanded in custody.

His party said he hasn’t resigned his post as chief minister and will continue to conduct official business from jail. The BJP is demanding his resignation.

Kejriwal’s arrest, coming just weeks before India’s elections kick off on April 19, sparked a backlash from opposition groups accusing Modi’s government of using federal agencies to target them. The BJP has denied the allegations.

The Delhi traffic unit issued an advisory Tuesday of road restrictions and diversions near Modi’s home, making the location inaccessible.

“There is no permission for the protests and we have delegated required security,” Devesh Kumar Mahia, Delhi deputy police commissioner, told reporters. The police has 50 vehicles patrolling the city and protesters will be detained, he added.

The AAP, which governs the capital and the northern Indian state of Punjab, have also called for nationwide protests on March 31, which it said will draw members of the opposition alliance.

“There are protests everywhere on the streets of the country and in the coming days, it will pick up pace,” Gopal Rai, a Delhi cabinet minister, told reporters Sunday.

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

US Supreme Court abortion pill fight brings claims of distorted science

Mon, March 25, 2024

Dr. Beverly Winikoff, President of the research group 

Gynuity Health Projects in New York

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - The abortion opponents who are seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone point to three studies by Gynuity Health Projects, a New York-based women's health research group, to back up their arguments that it is unsafe despite its regulatory approval decades ago.

But the way the research has been prominently cited by the plaintiffs in their bid to limit how the pill is prescribed and distributed is bewildering to Dr. Beverly Winikoff, Gynuity's president, given that the conclusions broadly support easier access to the medication.

"They live on a different planet," Winikoff said of the plaintiffs during an interview at her Midtown Manhattan office. "You can always distort information and say things that aren't true."

The Supreme Court, whose conservative majority in 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized a constitutional right to abortion, is set to hear arguments in the case on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden's administration is appealing a lower court's decision that would roll back U.S. Food and Drug Administration actions in 2016 and 2021 to ease access to mifepristone. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could undercut federal regulatory authority over drug safety beyond just this medication.

The plaintiffs defend how they presented the research findings.

"We simply took the FDA's characterizations of these studies and presented them to the court," said Erik Baptist, a lawyer at the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative religious rights group representing the plaintiffs.

Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to perform medication abortions, which account for more than 60% of U.S. abortions.

ABORTION CRACKDOWN

A series of Republican-backed abortion bans of varying strictness have been enacted by states since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Some states also impose their own restrictions on medication abortion.

The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case are a group of medical associations and four doctors who oppose abortion on religious and moral grounds. To them, the FDA's decisions to relax mifepristone restrictions unlawfully placed women at risk.

The regulatory changes included allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person.

The FDA gave mifepristone regulatory approval in 2000. It has said that after decades of use by millions of women in the United States and around the world, mifepristone has proven "extremely safe," and that "study after study" has shown that "serious adverse events are exceedingly rare."

The plaintiffs question the FDA's judgment, in part by pointing the Supreme Court in their written filings to the three studies published by Gynuity researchers in 2019 and 2021 as part of a project called TelAbortion, which evaluated the feasibility and safety of providing abortion drugs via videoconference and mail.

The FDA considered those studies, among others, in eliminating in-person visits.

The studies, the plaintiffs told the justices, show "troubling rates of emergency-room visits, urgent care trips, and unplanned medical encounters" and "increased risk" for patients.

But the studies report that "serious adverse events" such as hospitalizations or blood transfusions are rare. One of them specified that none of the 0.9% of serious outcomes would have been avoided with in-person screening.

Winikoff, who has studied medication abortion for more than three decades, said using emergency room or urgent care trips as a proxy for danger paints a false narrative, as most of these visits are not for serious medical emergencies, despite where they take place.

"You're counting apples and oranges," Winikoff said, adding: "This whole thing is misleading the public."

EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS

Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research group at the University of California San Francisco, said patients who use telemedicine to obtain medication abortion may live far from the prescribing clinician.

"So it's not surprising that if they have a question or concern they may go to an emergency department as many people in America do for much of their urgent healthcare," Grossman said.

Often that care is for "patients who just have a question or concern and they don't end up needing any treatment" as even more recent studies have found, Grossman said.

Baptist, representing the plaintiffs, pointed to the FDA's characterizations of the studies at issue.

"The FDA's own label considers emergency room visits to be 'serious adverse reactions,'" Baptist said.

"The studies that FDA cited in 2021 show that the risk of these emergency room trips will increase without the initial in-person visit. That should've caused the FDA concern. Instead, it pressed forward with its changes, compromising the health and safety of women," Baptist added.

The fight over the science behind mifepristone's safety escalated in recent weeks when prominent academic journal publisher Sage retracted three studies led by researchers at the Virginia-based anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute, noting problems with methodology.

The plaintiffs, including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had cited two of the studies, including one reporting more emergency room visits following medication abortion compared to surgical abortion, in their 2022 lawsuit challenging FDA approval of mifepristone.

Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk also cited the studies in his 2023 decision siding with the plaintiffs.

"We don't need those studies to win," Baptist said. "All we need to prevail is what the FDA itself has said and the studies it has cited."

James Studnicki, director of data analytics at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and lead author of the retracted studies, said, "There is no legitimate reason for Sage's retractions." The institute told the Supreme Court in a filing that the retractions were made for "ideological" reasons even as the FDA relied on studies by "pro-abortion" researchers.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year partially upheld Kacsmaryk's decision, faulting the FDA's loosened restrictions on mifepristone in 2016 and 2021. The 5th Circuit's decision remains on hold pending the Supreme Court's review. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

For Winikoff, no matter the outcome at the Supreme Court, medication abortion is here to stay.

"People really know what they need, and now they found something that's helpful for them and it fits into their lives better," Winikoff said. "I don't think that the women of America are going to give this up because some people don't like abortion."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

Aluminum company says preferred site for new smelter is a region of Kentucky hit hard by job losses

BRUCE SCHREINER
Mon, March 25, 2024 

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear responds to a question during an interview, Dec. 19, 2023, in Frankfort, Ky. An aluminum company has singled out northeastern Kentucky as its preferred site for a new aluminum smelter that would bring about 1,000 permanent jobs to an Appalachian region hard hit by the loss of coal and steel production, Gov. Beshear said Monday, March 25, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)More


FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — An aluminum company has singled out northeastern Kentucky as its preferred site for a new aluminum smelter that would bring about 1,000 permanent jobs to an Appalachian region hard hit by the loss of coal and steel production, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.

Plans by Century Aluminum Co. to build a smelter that produces dramatically lower emissions will be supported by $500 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The project has the potential to become the largest investment on record in eastern Kentucky, Beshear said.

“There’s still a lot of steps that we need to take to make this a reality," the governor said at a news conference. "But this is the first important step.”

The governor is hoping that a state incentives package will help close the deal. He predicted that state lawmakers will provide “the tools that we need” in the closing days of their legislative session.

The company's president and CEO, Jesse Gary, did not attend the news conference but said in a statement that a “myriad of steps" must still be resolved and that multiple locations are still being evaluated, but he pointed to northeastern Kentucky as the preferred location. Issues still pending include development costs for sites under consideration, utility costs, workforce and incentives, he said.

Century Aluminum, headquartered in Chicago, already has a significant presence in the Bluegrass State with two aluminum smelters in western Kentucky.

Gary referred to the announcement Monday as "another step in our continued long-standing relationship with the state, and we look forward to the opportunity to help be a part of growing commerce in eastern Kentucky, an outcome that is very attractive to Century Aluminum.”

Century says it is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the United States and also operates production facilities in Iceland, the Netherlands and Jamaica.

Northeastern Kentucky was hit hard several years ago when a steel mill that had been an economic bedrock for generations shut down. The broader eastern Kentucky region has struggled from the sharp drop in coal jobs over the last decade amid shrinking demand for coal.

The region had its hopes of landing a massive aluminum plant dashed a few years ago. Another aluminum company planned to build a mill near Ashland in northeastern Kentucky but the project — which was pushed by Beshear's predecessor, former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin — never came to fruition as the company struggled to line up sufficient financing.

Now Beshear, who unseated Bevin in 2019, is trying to deliver on what he says would be a game-changing project for the region and continue the state's record-setting pace of economic development growth during the Democrat's tenure. Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party, won reelection to a second term last year in what otherwise has become a Republican-dominated state.

The region's renewed prospect of becoming home to an aluminum smelter offers an “incredible opportunity” for an area that's “been through the ringer,” said Boyd County Judge-Executive Eric Chaney, who was among several area leaders who attended the news conference with Beshear.

“We're going to work hard to help get this over the finish line,” Chaney said later in a phone interview. “This is a great opportunity for northeast Kentucky and the entire state.”

The project would create about 5,500 construction jobs and then about 1,000 permanent union jobs, the governor said. The new smelter would double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum industry while avoiding an estimated 75% of emissions from a traditional smelter due to its state-of-the-art, energy efficient design and use of carbon-free energy, he said.

The Department of Energy, in a separate news release, said the new plant would be the cleanest and most efficient aluminum smelter in the world.

Aluminum produced by the new plant will support national defense, electric vehicles, semiconductors, building and construction and green energy applications, Beshear said.

While many decisions remain, Beshear pointed to the importance of $500 million in federal support for the project. The funding is provided by DOE’s Industrial Demonstrations Program, and the governor thanked President Joe Biden, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and others.

“While we all recognize that it’s not a done deal and there is more work to come, a $500 million grant, if it is built in this region, is a pretty good place to start,” Beshear said.

Last week, Beshear announced plans by Rye Development to build a $1.3 billion pumped storage hydropower facility on a former coal mine site in Bell County in southeastern Kentucky. The project — also backed by a federal grant — will create about 1,500 construction jobs, 30 operations jobs and enough energy to power nearly 67,000 homes each year




Biden’s Big Bet on Aluminum
Matthew Zeitlin
Mon, March 25, 2024 


Famously energy intensive and dominated by Chinese smelters, aluminum sits at a curious nexus of climate and industrial policy.

The famously lightweight metal is something like the base metal of green industry. It’s used in the frames for solar panels, the control equipment for wind turbines, and in the hardware of electricity distribution. It’s lighter than steel, which makes it appealing to electric car manufacturers, like Tesla, who want to expand the range of their vehicles. Aluminum is often found in the batteries themselves, as well, specifically their enclosures. Overall, aluminum demand is projected to rise by some 40% by the end of the decade.

Like other industrial metals (namely steel), the U.S. aluminum industry has been a poster child of deindustrialization. Employment in the aluminum production industry has fallen from around 100,000 in 2000 to around 60,000 in 2022, with much of the fall happening in the few years after the United States established permanent normal trade relations with China. Earlier this year, the second largest smelter in the country said it would lay off most of its employees.

So, can the Biden administration bring aluminum smelting back to the United States?


The Department of Energy today announced $6 billion of funding for 33 industrial decarbonization projects, including four for aluminum, worth almost $670 million total. That includes up to $500 million for Century Aluminum to build a new primary smelter, which would make it the first new smelter in the United States since the late 1970s.

“Aluminum is a metal that is of incredible strategic importance to the U.S. and the world,” Jane Flegal, the former White House Senior Director for Industrial Emissions, told me. “We used to do a lot of aluminum production. That has declined precipitously.”

Obama, Trump and Biden have tried some combination of tariffs and negotiations to bring order to the global aluminum market — some of the Trump-era tariffs remain in place — but none of them had much success. Traditional climate policy, meanwhile, has focused more on the greenhouse gas emissions that come from transportation and electricity generation.

Heavy industry is a massive source of emissions, comprising about a fifth of the global total. The aluminum industry on its own makes up about 2% of global emissions, of which the smelting is responsible for about 80%, with the lion’s share going to the electricity being used to power the process. This makes smelting especially sensitive to both the price and availability of power. It’s no coincidence that Iceland, with its plentiful and always available hydropower and geothermal resources, is a major aluminum producer.

Many industrial processes themselves also produce emissions, which makes industrial decarbonization not just an adjunct of decarbonizing the electricity sector but rather an area that requires its own technological breakthroughs. For example, to make aluminum out of alumina, a powder that is refined from bauxite, requires consuming a carbon anode, which itself is made from an oil refining byproduct. These are businesses that operate on small margins and require huge capital investments to expand or change production, Flegal told me.

And the new technology necessary to decarbonize them wasn't being developed because “there wasn’t the level of investment in new technological pathways,” Todd Tucker, director of industrial policy and trade at the Roosevelt Institute, told me. “These demonstration projects are the first step of showing viability of new production methods.”

The Department of Energy said the smelter “would double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum industry while avoiding an estimated 75% of emissions from a traditional smelter.” The DOE noted the preferred site for the smelter would be “Kentucky or Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.” Kentucky’s Governor Andy Beshear said Monday that Century had indicated an interest in the Bluegrass State, and that his office was working to put together a bundle of incentives to make the state more attractive.

Wherever it’s located, the facility is expected to create more than 1,000 permanent jobs, Century and the Department of Energy said, which would go to members of the United Steelworkers union. The USW has recently endorsed President Biden and applauded the DOE program.

The decades of job losses in the aluminum sector have “been devastating for our members and communities we work at,” Emil Ramirez, the USW’s vice president for administration, told me. “We have to give the Biden administration credit for recognizing the need to revitalize this important industry.”

Scammer claimed to be a psychic, witch and Irish heiress, victims say as she faces extradition to UK

MICHAEL CASEY
Mon, March 25, 2024 




Emmy Award-winning producer Johnathan Walton poses for a photo with his Emmy Awards at his apartment in downtown Los Angeles, Monday, March 25, 2024. Walton was scammed by con artist Marianne "Mair" Smyth, who is now facing extradition to the United Kingdom. Walton started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about Smyth after he said he was fleeced out of nearly $100,000.

 (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)


BOSTON (AP) — She has crisscrossed the country saying she's an Irish heiress, a psychic and good friends with a movie star in order to run scores of scams, her victims say.

But now Marianne Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing next month that will decide whether she can be extradited to the United Kingdom over a scam dating back more than 15 years in Northern Ireland. The 54-year-old American is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from at least five victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland, where a court issued arrest warrants for her in 2021, according to legal documents. She was located and arrested last month in Maine.

Her case has similarities to Anna Sorokin, a grifter convicted in New York of paying for a lavish lifestyle by impersonating a wealthy German heiress.

“She’s a master of disguise completely changing her appearance and her grift to suit each mark,” said Johnathan Walton, who started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about her after he said he was fleeced out of nearly $100,000. She was always dressed in designer clothes, but said she needed the money for things like a frozen bank account and to post bail, he said. She told him she was due an inheritance of $7 million from her wealthy family in Ireland, Walton said.

They grew close over several years in Los Angeles, when she bought him expensive dinners and luxury vacations, he said. But her story began to unravel when Walton realized she was jailed for stealing $200,000 from a luxury travel agency where she worked. She was later convicted of stealing from him and briefly served time in prison.

“She has no shame. And she has no conscience,” the 49-year-old reality television producer, author and public speaker said. “She revels in casting countless victims as unwitting actors in her elaborate schemes to defraud.”

Smyth's attorney did not respond to a request for comment. From jail, Smyth referred questions to her attorney.

The podcast has drawn tips from dozens of victims from California to New York, Walton said. The tipsters described a fake charity for Ukraine as well as lies that she was an emissary for Satan, a witch, a hockey coach, a cancer patient and best friends with Jennifer Aniston. She often changed her name and appearance, her victims say.

“She honed in our vulnerabilities and got all our information and bank accounts,” said Heather Sladinski, a costume designer in Los Angeles who said she was scammed out of $20,000 for psychic readings, fake life coach sessions and cult-like retreats that included rituals, breathing exercises and yoga. Smyth was funny, smart and had credentials and other documents to back up her claims, Sladinski said.

The 50-year-old from Los Angeles blocked Smyth after she wanted to do a bizarre ritual involving a chicken to win back her ex-boyfriend, who had a restraining order against her, Sladinski said. Smyth then started making threatening phone calls and Sladinski "was so scared” that she moved homes. But after connecting with Walton, Sladkinski filed her own police report against Smyth and testified at Walton's trial.

Tess Cacciatore, who owns a production company and nonprofit charity, never lost money to Smyth, but met her in 2016 through a business partner who had employed her as a psychic. Smyth claimed to be a cancer patient, even sending her a photo of her in a hospital gown, and said she was set to get a $50 million inheritance. Smyth also showed Cacciatore emails purportedly from Aniston and, at one point, invited her to join them at the Golden Globe Awards before abruptly canceling.

In Northern Ireland, government officials say Smyth stole money that she had promised to invest and arranged to sell a victim a home but took the money. She remains in the Piscataquis County Jail in Dover-Foxcroft pending the extradition hearing on April 17.

“She should have been an actress,” Cacciatore said. “She would have worked a lot and not gone to jail. She is so good at what she did.”

WWIII

South Korea has 'grave concerns' over China using water cannons against Philippine ships

Hyonhee Shin
Tue, March 26, 2024 

Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah  on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea

By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's foreign ministry on Tuesday expressed "grave concerns" over China's recent use of water cannons against Philippine ships, saying it stokes tension in the South China Sea and undermines a maritime order.

The Philippines accused China's coastguard of using water cannons on Saturday against a civilian boat supplying troops at the Spratly Islands, a largely uninhabited archipelago in the South China Sea which has long been a source of territorial spats between the two countries.

It was the latest in a series of flare-ups in the past year.

The Philippines lodged a protest and said the boat was damaged and some crew injured, while Beijing warned Manila to behave cautiously and seek dialogue, saying their ties were at a "crossroads".

"We are gravely concerned about the recent and repeated use of water cannons in the South China Sea," Seoul's foreign ministry spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, told a briefing.

"These actions increase tensions in the South China Sea, a major international navigation route used by all countries including Korea, and undermine efforts to maintain peace, stability, security and a rules-based maritime order."

He also said the freedom of navigation and overflight must be respected by all countries based on international law.

South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol administration has been vocal about tension in the South China Sea and also the Taiwan Strait, saying it opposes attempts to change the status quo by force.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Michael Perry)

Japanese Americans draw on heritage and history to support Palestine

Melissa Hellmann
Mon, March 25, 2024

Pro-Palestinian protestors march through Little Tokyo in Los Angeles on 26 December 2023.Photograph: David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

With their cameras on and microphones muted, about a dozen members of the Japanese diaspora collective Nikkei 4 Palestine gather on Zoom every Thursday afternoon. One member plays Palestinian resistance music in the background as they call or email elected officials to demand a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The coalition has contacted politicians across the US and Canada more than 400 times through calls, emails, letters and faxes since November, according to Yoshino Goto, a member of the group. Comprising more than 70 people, Nikkei (which means a person of Japanese descent) 4 Palestine formed as a response to the war, in which more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October.

Related: Who was Frantz Fanon, the freedom fighter Palestine supporters love to quote?

“A lot of people in our community minimized Israel’s occupation of Palestine and remained neutral,” Goto said. “So Nikkei 4 Palestine was born to address this lack of mass mobilization in Japanese American communities.”

The online space also allows members – some of whom are the descendants of Japanese second world war internment camp survivors – to reckon with the complexity of their own identities as Japanese Americans. They see similarities between the current treatment of Palestinians and the anti-Japanese propaganda that led to their families’ internment. But they also acknowledge that Japan’s history of settler colonialism in countries such as China and Brazil is reminiscent of Israel’s actions.

“Positioning ourselves primarily as victims of racial and military violence often in the context of WWII incarceration has prevented us from confronting the ways that many of us continue to perpetuate systemic violence against Indigenous peoples whose lands we occupy,” said the New York-based coalition member Riki Eijima. A fourth-generation Japanese American, Eijima’s great-grandparents and grandparents were incarcerated at the internment camps in Utah and Colorado during the second world war. “I really want to see my community that has taught me so much and given me so much to also work on that reckoning within ourselves and to hold ourselves accountable.”

Kassandra Hishida, a coalition member from Fresno, California, said that the anti-Japanese rhetoric that led to her relatives’ internments in Arizona and Arkansas is mirrored in the demonization of Palestinians: “Themes of censorship or media propaganda are criminalizing people because of their ancestry in the same ways that it affected my family.”

But the group has provided an outlet for her to critically reflect on Japanese imperialism as well. Over the past couple of weeks, she’s talked to Asian American friends whose ancestral lands were occupied by Japan. “How do we heal that,” she asked. “And how do I show up and leverage the privileges I have to be in solidarity to end occupations related to both the United States and Japan?”

Nikkei 4 Palestine’s collective actions have sparked conversations among long-established organizations within the Japanese diaspora. Its members met with the influential civil rights group Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), for instance, to demand that it also call for a ceasefire and stand with Palestine. JACL then created a subcommittee to hear different perspectives on the matter.

Politically, the group may have also had some impact. “I’m not sure if it’s directly linked to our actions,” said Goto, “but I think community pressure and constituent pressure has led to people like Mark Takano, who’s a Japanese American representative, to call for a ceasefire.” (Takano’s office declined to comment for this story.)

Guiding principles

Nikkei 4 Palestine is currently focused on organizing its membership and planning its future. Members are formalizing the coalition’s structure by drafting guiding principles for committees, and creating email lists and group chats so that they can stay connected. The coalition also has an educational committee, where people compile resources about Japanese imperialism and the Palestinian liberation movement.

Another one of the group’s committees is tasked with pressuring Japanese American groups to support Palestine. In a 30 December petition, Nikkei 4 Palestine demanded that JACL drop its ties with the pro-Israel groups, Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee.

“I don’t think we’re that far apart from where Nikkei 4 Palestine is,” David Inoue, JACL’s executive director, told the Guardian. “Calls for peace are something that everybody shares. I don’t think anybody wants to see the bloodshed that has happened in the Middle East.”

He added, however, that it would be difficult for the organization to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, since the two groups collaborate on hate crime prevention. In Eijima’s estimation, the differences in opinion on Palestine and Israel point to a generational divide in the Japanese American community.

‘Weigh our history’

During a recent virtual meeting, the guest speaker Michael Yoshii spoke to Nikkei 4 Palestine about his previous work helping build a soccer field in Wadi Foquin, an agricultural village in the West Bank. Yoshii, who co-chairs the interfaith group Friends of Wadi Foquin, told the Guardian, “It’s critical for us Japanese Americans to weigh our history, and understand that the dynamics of war, racism and political expediency are at play with the Palestinians right now.”

And during a panel discussion earlier this month, organizers in Japan shared with the group their recent boycotting efforts that pushed the trading firm Itochu Corporation to divest from the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems. The activists also taught coalition members Japanese chants for pro-Palestinian protests. That meeting, Hishida said, helped energize Nikkei 4 Palestine and crystallize it as a transnational movement.

Though the coalition has not encouraged members to vote a certain way in the upcoming presidential election, member KC Mukai voted “uncommitted” in the California primary and Hishida said that she “won’t be voting for someone who’s funding genocide”.

For Eijima’s part, she said her ancestors will serve as a guiding light as she helps pursue Palestinian liberation: “Just because we got our redress doesn’t mean that our fight for justice is over. We are not free until all are free.” Lately, she’s been reflecting on the plight of her late grandparents. “I would like to think that this is what they would have wanted from me and from Japanese Americans.”

Dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas test positive for bird flu

ZOONOSIS

H5N1 HAS MOVED TO MAMMALS

MIKE STOBBE and JONEL ALECCIA
Updated Mon, March 25, 2024 

FILE - Dairy cattle feed at a farm on March 31, 2017, near Vado, N.M. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, March 25, 2024, that milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu.

 (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

Milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu, U.S. officials said Monday.

Officials with the Texas Animal Health Commission confirmed the flu virus is the Type A H5N1 strain, known for decades to cause outbreaks in birds and to occasionally infect people. The virus is affecting older dairy cows in those states and in New Mexico, causing decreased lactation and low appetite.

It comes a week after officials in Minnesota announced that goats on a farm where there had been an outbreak of bird flu among poultry were diagnosed with the virus. It's believed to be the first time bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza — was found in U.S. livestock.

The commercial milk supply is safe and risk to people is low, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dairies are required to only allow milk from healthy animals to enter the food supply, and milk from the sick animals is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization also kills viruses and other bacteria, and the process is required for milk sold through interstate commerce, the agency said.

“At this stage, there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health,” the USDA said in a statement.

The federal government said its tests in the cattle did not detect any changes to the virus that would make it spread more easily to people.

Dairy farmers in Texas first became concerned three weeks ago when cattle started falling ill with what officials called “mystery dairy cow disease," Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said. Milk production fell sharply and the cows were lethargic and weren't eating much.

“We hadn't seen anything like it before,” he said. “It was kind of like they had a cold.”

The state's animal health commission began an investigation that included tests for bird flu, spokeswoman Erin Robinson said. Based on findings from Texas, USDA officials think the cows got the virus from infected wild birds.

Experts say livestock appear to recover on their own within seven to 10 days. That's different than bird flu outbreaks in poultry, which necessitate killing flocks to get rid of the virus. Since 2022, outbreaks in have led to the loss of about 80 million birds in U.S. commercial flocks.

So far, the virus appears to be infecting about 10% of lactating dairy cows in the affected herds, said Michael Payne, a food animal veterinarian and and biosecurity expert with the University of California-Davis Western Institute for Food Safety and Security.

“This doesn’t look anything like the high-path influenza in bird flocks,” he said.

Bird flu was detected in unpasteurized, clinical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas. The virus was also found in a nose and throat swab from another dairy in Texas.

Officials called it a rapidly evolving situation. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are involved, along with officials in the three states. Another dairy-heavy state, Iowa, said it is monitoring the situation.

Dairy industry officials said that producers have started enhanced biosecurity efforts on U.S. farms, including limiting the amount of traffic into and out of properties and restricting visits to employees and essential personnel.

Bird flu previously has been reported in 48 different mammal species, Payne noted, adding: “It was probably only a matter of time before avian influenza made its way to ruminants.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Bird flu detected in cows at two Kansas dairy farms. Milk is safe to drink, feds say

Eduardo Castillo
Mon, March 25, 2024



Cows at two dairy farms in Kansas tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly known as bird flu, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday.

Public and federal health officials are investigating the illnesses but say it does not impact milk that is sold in Kansas grocery stores, according to a USDA news release.

“There is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health,” the USDA said.

Testing was done Friday on dairy cows in Kansas, Texas and New Mexico after reports from farms that found dead birds on their properties.

“Initial testing by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories has not found changes to the virus [HPAI] that would make it more transmissible to humans,” the USDA said. “Which would indicate that the current risk to the public remains low.”

Milk from sick dairy cows will be destroyed so it does enter the public food supply chain.

HPAI usually does not infect humans, although there have been rare instances when it did, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Agencies investigating the matter include the USDA, CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration among other state veterinary and public health officials.

Investigation into avian flu among cows happening in New Mexico

Fallon Fischer
Mon, March 25, 2024 


NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state veterinary and public health officials, are investigating an illness among primarily older dairy cows in New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas.

The illness, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), is causing decreased lactation, low appetite, and other symptoms in cows, according to the USDA.

New Mexico State Veterinarian Samantha Uhrig said there have been no positive cases of HPAI in New Mexico at this time. Officials are focusing their investigation on dairy cows in the eastern part of the state.

Biologists warn hunters of dangerous PFAS levels in Holloman Lake birds

As of Monday, March 25, unpasteurized, clinical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas, as well as a swab from another dairy in Texas, have tested positive for HPAI. Based on findings from Texas, the detections appear to have been introduced by wild birds.

According to the USDA, the current risk to the public remains low and there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply. Federal and state agencies are working to conduct additional testing for HPAI, as well as viral genome sequencing. Farmers and veterinarians are asked to report cattle illnesses quickly so officials can monitor potential additional cases and minimize the impact to farmers, consumers and other animals.

The New Mexico Livestock Board said it is aware of the situation and is working with other local, state and federal agencies. The NMLB encourages dairy producers limit the amount of traffic into and out of their properties and restrict visits to employees and essential personnel only.

Veterinarians in New Mexico are being urged by the NMLB to check with other states on receiving requirements of all cattle prior to shipment. New Mexico producers and veterinarians who observe symptoms of (HPAI) are strongly encouraged to contact the New Mexico Livestock Board.

Click here to see the full news release from the USDA.

'Bird Flu' found at three Texas dairy farms, one in Kansas

FOX 26 Digital Staff
Mon, March 25, 2024 

Texas - A mysterious ailment infiltrated the Texas Panhandle, leaving the agriculture sector in a state of bewilderment until officials discovered what it was.

On Monday, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller disclosed that the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, along with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), confirmed the mysterious disease plaguing the region as a strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly referred to as Bird Flu.

According to officials, three dairies in Texas and one in Kansas have tested positive for ‘Bird Flu’ causing the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to remain on high alert.

"This presents yet another hurdle for our agriculture sector in the Texas Panhandle," Commissioner Miller emphasized. "Protecting Texas producers and the safety of our food supply chain is my top priority. The Texas Department of Agriculture will use every resource available to maintain the high standards of quality and safety that define Texas agriculture."

Texas's state economy gets $50 billion of its earnings from the state's dairy sector and Texas ranks fourth in national milk production.

Cows at a dairy Farm in Cambridge, Wisconsin, US, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Joe Biden wanted a show of strength and found it in a union hall in Wisconsin -- a state Democrats learned the hard way that they can't ignore, and one where the president sent his strongest signal yet of a reelection bid.

 Photographer: Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMore

The commissioner reassures consumers that dairy products remain unaffected by HPAI due to the pasteurization protocols and other safety measures.

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"There is no threat to the public and there will be no supply shortages," said Commissioner Miller. "No contaminated milk is known to have entered the food chain; it has all been dumped. In the rare event that some affected milk enters the food chain, the pasteurization process will kill the virus."

According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, cattle affected by 'Bird Flu' will exhibit flu-like symptoms such as fever and abnormal milk consistency, such as thick and discolored, leading to a significant reduction in milk production averaging between 10-30 pounds per cow throughout the herd.

Farmers are urged to promptly notify their herd veterinarian if any cattle display symptoms of the condition.

Texas dairy farms are strongly advised to implement standard biosecurity practices, including limited access to essential personnel, thorough disinfection of incoming and outgoing vehicles, segregation of affected cattle, and disposal of contaminated milk. Furthermore, sanitizing all livestock watering equipment and isolating water sources from potential contamination by waterfowl.

Economic repercussions persist as severely impacted herds may see a staggering 40% decline in milk production for seven to 10 days until symptoms subside. Enhanced biosecurity measures are recommended across dairy facilities nationwide to prevent the disease from spreading any further.

"Unlike affected poultry, I foresee there will be no need to depopulate dairy herds," Miller said. "Cattle are expected to fully recover. The Texas Department of Agriculture is committed to providing unwavering support to our dairy industry."