GLOW IN THE DARK T.O.

New high-tech nuclear reactor will soon be built near Toronto

Few words hold as much weight as 'nuclear,' and while news of a new reactor planned just 30 kilometres east of Toronto might have some Googling where to get iodine tablets, it's probably nothing anybody needs to worry about.

One of the primary sources of nuclear energy in the region, the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Bowmanville, will soon be getting a new high-tech reactor, the results of a newly-announced partnership between Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

The two companies are collaborating to engineer, design, plan, and construct Canada's first commercial Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Known as the GE Hitachi BWRX-300, this upgrade could be completed as soon as 2028.


Conceptual rendering of a BWRX-300 power plant design. Rendering by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

Nuclear power may conjure up scary images of meltdowns and radiation or terrifying false alarms that drive residents into a panic, but in reality, it's an everyday part of life. It currently represents about 20 per cent of Ontario's electricity daily, reaching 60 per cent of annual energy production in the province in 2018.

OPG claims that nuclear energy is a necessary component in the country reaching emissions targets, an SMR of about 300 megawatts in size capable of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by between 0.3 to 2.0 megatonnes per year.

"We know nuclear is a key proven zero-emissions baseload energy source that will help us achieve net-zero as a company by 2040, and act as a catalyst for efficient economy-wide decarbonization by 2050," said Ken Hartwick, OPG's President and CEO.

OPG states that the new reactor will be a significant job-creator, including local jobs, though some locals are not so happy with the plans.

The planned reactor has been met with pushback from community members and environmental groups from the beginning, and the latest announcement will likely spur even more resistance from concerned citizens.

Work on preparing the future site of the reactor is due to begin this coming spring, and OPG is aiming to apply for construction with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission by the end of 2022.

Lead photo GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy

OPG chooses BWRX-300 SMR for Darlington new build

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has selected the BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) for the Darlington new nuclear site, and will work with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) to deploy the reactor. Canada's first commercial, grid-scale, SMR could be completed as early as 2028.

The Darlington site, next to OPG's operating CANDU reactors, is the only site currently licensed in Canada for new nuclear (Image: OPG)

02 December 2021

OPG and GEH will collaborate on SMR engineering, design, planning, preparing licensing and permitting materials, and site preparation activities. Site preparation will begin in the spring of 2022, pending appropriate approvals, OPG said. It aims to apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a construction licence by the end of next year.

Darlington is the only site in Canada currently licensed for new nuclear: OPG was granted a site preparation licence by the CNSC in 2012, after completion of an environmental assessment which included public involvement, but reductions in forecast electricity demand led to a decision to defer plans for new build. OPG last year announced it was resuming planning activities for additional nuclear power generation via an SMR at the site, rather than a large conventional reactor, as previously envisaged. The CNSC recently granted a 10-year renewal to the site preparation licence, which had been due to expire in August 2022.

"We know nuclear is a key proven zero-emissions baseload energy source that will help us achieve net-zero as a company by 2040, and act as a catalyst for efficient economy-wide decarbonisation by 2050," OPG President and CEO Ken Hartwick said. "By moving forward, with our industry-leading technology partner GE Hitachi, on deployment of innovative technology for an SMR at Darlington, OPG is paving the way on the development and deployment of the next generation of nuclear power in Canada and beyond."

The BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GEH's ESBWR boiling water reactor, which has been certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It is currently undergoing a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission pre-licensing Vendor Design Review, or VDR. As well as the BWRX-300, OPG had also been considering Terrestrial Energy's Integrated Molten Salt Reactor and X-energy's Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor for deployment at Darlington.

A 2020 study by the Conference Board of Canada found that a 300 MWe grid-scale SMR built in Ontario and operated for 60 years would create thousands of direct and indirect jobs from project development through to decommissioning. An independent report by PwC Canada, commissioned by GEH, has estimated that the construction and operation of the first BWRX-300 in Ontario will generate CAD2.3 billion (USD1.8 billion) in GDP, CAD1.9 billion in labour income and more than CAD750 million in federal, provincial and municipal tax revenue over its lifespan, with each subsequent BWRX-300 deployed in Ontario and other provinces is expected to further generate more than CAD1.1 billion in GDP and more than CAD300 million in tax revenue.

"OPG is Ontario's climate change leader and is positioned to become a world leader in SMRs. Together, this partnership will bring jobs and economic benefits to Durham Region, Ontario and Canada, and potential global export of this technology," GEH President and CEO Jay Wileman said.

"This first-of-a-kind reactor represents the future of nuclear power, not only in Canada, but across the world," Heather Thomas, president and CEO of GE Canada, said during the livestreamed announcement. "By making this decision, OPG and Ontario are demonstrating a clear example of how Canada can lead in the global energy transition … Ontario and OPG are positioned to be the first mover in small modular reactor technology globally," she said.

New nuclear technologies such as SMRs represent tremendous economic and environmental opportunities for Ontario and all of Canada, Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith said. SMRs can provide reliable and emission-free energy while creating jobs, economic growth and export opportunities, he added. "Our opportunity to be a leader in this technology is right here, right now," he said.

Two 'firsts' for Canadian reactor refurbishments

01 December 2021

The disassembly phase of Ontario Power Generation's (OPG's) refurbishment of Darlington unit 3 has now been completed and the reassembly phase has begun, the company said yesterday. The disassembly of the reactor included the world's first use of a combined pressure and calandria tube (PT-CT) removal technique. Separately, an automated process to install and inspect calandria tubes is to be used in the refurbishment of Bruce Power's Bruce 3 in another industry 'first'.

The new tool removal toolset in use at Darlington 3 (Image: OPG)

The first-of-its-kind work on Darlington’s unit 3 was completed on 27 October through a collaboration by OPG, the SNC-Lavalin Aecon Joint Venture, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), CANDU Energy and Promation Nuclear. In previous CANDU refurbishments, pressure tubes (which contain the fuel bundles and through which the reactor's primary coolant flows) and calandria tubes (which contain the pressure tubes as well as so-called garter springs) were removed individually. In addition, the garter springs - which act as a spacer between the calandria and pressure tube - often became separated during the process, adding a further challenge to the work.

While planning unit 3's refurbishment, the project team realised it may be possible to adapt the existing reactor disassembly toolset to remove the pressure tubes and calandria tubes at the same time, saving time, money and also reducing radiation exposure for the personnel carrying out the work. After proof-of-concept tests, the innovative tube removal tool was fabricated and tested on a mock-up, and the team underwent training and rehearsed using the new toolset before using it to remove the tubes from unit 3.

Unit 3 is the second unit at the Darlington site to undergo refurbishment. When similar work was being carried out on Darlington unit 2, all the pressure tubes and calandria tubes - 560 tubes in all - were removed separately, placed in flasks and transferred to the on-site volume reduction facility, a process taking 78 days in total. This was reduced by more than 30 days using the new technique.

The new removal technology, along with lessons learned, will be used on the remaining two reactor refurbishments still to take place at Darlington and are expected to reduce the overall project duration by three months.

As reassembly of unit 3 begins, preparations are under way for the refurbishment of unit 1, which is set to begin in February 2022, when two Darlington units will be in refurbishment in parallel for the first time over the course of the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2026.

Bruce 'first'

Separately, Ontario-based company ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc is automating the installation and inspection of calandria tubes at Bruce unit 3. The company said it has recently received an order worth some CAD30 million (USD24 million) relating to the refurbishment of Bruce 3. In addition to the installation and inspection of calandria tubes, ATS will also provide training and support for Bruce Power's team and enter a partnership to provide spare replacement parts, it said.

The work is part of Bruce Power's intensive Major Component Replacement Project, which began in January 2020 and will see the refurbishment of six reactors. The first reactor to undergo refurbishment is unit 6. Work is scheduled to begin on unit 3 in 2023 followed by unit 4 in 2025.

Refurbishments will add some 30 years of operational life for each CANDU reactor.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Ontario’s Pension Fund Managers Are Propping up the Fossil Fuel and Real Estate Industries

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, like pension funds everywhere, engages in socially harmful speculation and investment. Pension funds should be paid for by contributions and taxes, not financialization.

BY TOM FRASER

JACOBIN
12.01.2021

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) is one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Serving 289,000 municipal workers employed by cities across Ontario, OMERS has net assets of over $105 billion that are intended to support members in their retirement. This year, however, has seen OMERS swamped by numerous scandals.

It is currently in the crosshairs of its largest constituent union, the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). In May 2021, CUPE Ontario, the public-sector union that represents almost half of the fund’s members, released a report indicting the pension fund for chronic underperformance on its investments. While other large funds managed to navigate 2020 without taking significant hits, OMERS’ asset value contracted by almost 3 percent. Given that OMERS pensions derive 70 percent of their funding from investment returns, this has raised serious concerns for plan members.

CUPE Ontario has been quick to point out that this was also not just a case of one bad year. OMERS has failed to meet its own benchmarks multiple times over the past decade and trailed behind other pension funds of comparable size. The problem is not simply one of flagging returns on investment. OMERS, like other Canadian pension funds, is deeply implicated in fossil fuel investments and the financialization of what should be social goods. The consequence of these investment decisions is that pension funds often inadvertently harm the people they exist to serve — working members dependent on public services and planning for a secure retirement.

You Work for Your Pension, Your Pension Does Not Work for You

CUPE Ontario has been calling for increased transparency and an independent review of OMERS’ investment choices. Thus far, the pension fund’s only response has been to release midyear returns in an effort to prove that they are becoming more reliable money managers.

OMERS also finds itself in conflict with CUPE Ontario over early retirement options for paramedics. As workers in a high-risk job, Ontario paramedics feel that they should have the option to retire five years early without a reduced pension — an option already available to police officers and firefighters.

OMERS’ reluctance to recognize this — and, therefore, its implicit insistence that paramedic benefits be reduced — has resulted in a court case between the pension plan and the union. The retirement fund is desperate to minimize its obligations to give its members a comfortable retirement.

All this comes just a year after the OMERS board voted to remove the indexing guarantee on pensions after 2022, meaning that any payouts of savings after that point would not necessarily be linked to cost-of-living increases. This move is almost certain to restrict benefits going forward. Between the paramedics and cost-of-living indexing, OMERS seems to be doing all it can to minimize benefits.

OMERS’ incapacity to maintain full-funding levels and its efforts to reduce its payment obligations stand in extremely uncomfortable tension with the social corrosiveness of its investment choices. An examination of its investments reveals a panoply of socially harmful acquisition and speculation.

Pension Fund Capitalism

While neoliberal governments have pursued privatization agendas through direct sales and public-private partnerships, OMERS has built up an astonishing infrastructure portfolio. The fund has a startling geographic reach. From port facilities in the United Kingdom to toll roads in India, from electrical grids in Australia to public elementary schools in Nova Scotia, OMERS’ tentacles stretch worldwide. For the pension fund, critical utilities, vital for the day-to-day functioning of society, are reduced solely to items on a balance sheet — assets to flesh out portfolios.

Nonrenewable energy infrastructure forms a significant portion of OMERS’ holdings. In 2018, it spent over $1.4 billion to buy a 50 percent stake in BridgeTex, a crude oil pipeline linking West Texas to the Gulf Coast. A year before that, it bought a 34 percent share in GNL Quintero, the largest natural gas terminal in Chile. The climate catastrophe means little to an infrastructure division that describes itself as being “singularly focused” on expanding its inventory.

OMERS’ vast real estate holdings are managed by its subsidiary corporation Oxford Properties. With assets north of $60 billion, Oxford is an active player in the luxury real estate market in cities as far apart as Toronto and Sydney. Ontario’s municipal workers are the owners of high-end retail strips and office complexes in London, Paris, Berlin, and elsewhere. OMERS has ensured that municipal workers are — often unwittingly — complicit in global gentrification.

Through Oxford, OMERS is the 50 percent owner of Hudson Yards, the multibillion dollar real estate megaproject on Manhattan’s far West Side. The largest private development in US history, Hudson Yards is an astonishing monument to real estate finance, and only one of multiple OMERS-owned properties peppering the New York City luxury real estate landscape. In mid-September, OMERS and its partners at the Canadian Pension Plan sold St John’s Terminal in SoHo to Google for over $2 billion. In the global game of hyperfinancialized real estate capitalism, pension funds have become critical players, and few have done so as voraciously as OMERS.

The retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of Ontario workers depend upon ecological devastation, privatized critical infrastructure, and luxury real estate. As the necessities of everyday life have become a fertile soil for profit, pension funds have excitedly started grubbing about in these burgeoning gardens of lucre.

“Fiduciary Duty” Was Devised by Gordon Gekko

The financialized pension system is based on the Faustian bargain that potential yields to plan beneficiaries justify the wider social consequences of fund manager’s investment decisions. The gospel of “fiduciary duty,” enshrined in legislation and held aloft by financial managers, supposedly guarantees that the needs of retirees are put front and center by pension investors. So then, why is it that OMERS is yielding terrible returns, cutting benefits, and attempting to limit plan eligibility?

In its current form, the pension system does not work for its members — it works for the financial sector. Before all else, retirement savings are investment capital. Their function as old-age support is unimportant compared to their role as an engine of the global financial system. The less a fund is obligated to pay out as benefits, the more it can funnel back its resources into capital markets. Pension funds are growing to obscene sizes — Canada’s public plans have total assets of over $1.5 trillion — while retirement remains out of reach for most.

The Faustian bargain, then, seems to be predicated on a lie. Many workers do not enjoy the benefits of their pension fund’s enormous portfolios, and OMERS sidelines members while also doing significant social damage. A recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report shows that the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the country’s largest pension funds, has flagrantly ignored demands for divestment. The Canadian Pension Plan, according to the report, has billions invested in the fossil fuel industry. And yet the fund’s benefits remain woefully insufficient for retirees hoping to live off of them. Such investments would be basically impossible to justify, even if their end result was a decent retirement for members — and they can’t even offer that.

In the hopes of protecting the retirement savings of their members, CUPE Ontario has launched a campaign calling for greater accountability and transparency at OMERS. But to “fix OMERS” — in the parlance of the campaign — would require a significant transformation of the Canadian pension system. The 2008 economic crash demonstrated the structural precariousness of financialized retirement, and nothing has been done since to fix the problem. So long as retirement is embedded in finance, both retirees and the greater public will have to deal with the consequences. The former through insufficient benefits, the latter through bearing the brunt of investment choices.

What, then, is to be done? First, the public pension system needs to be fully funded through a combination of contributions and taxation. Second, members should have democratic control over work-based pensions such as OMERS, and they should be primarily funded through increased employer contributions. Third, and most importantly, unions fighting to fix the pension system must fight for universal public housing, pharmacare, dental care, and long-term care provision.

As things stand, pension funds actively contribute to the commodification of necessities through their investments in things like real estate. A large pension — one which therefore relies upon massive investment returns — is only necessary so long as the cost of a comfortable retirement remains expensive. In order to definancialize pensions, we must also decommodify the necessities of everyday life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom Fraser is a writer based in Toronto. He researches public sector pensions at Concordia University as an affiliate of the project Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time.

CANADA
House of Commons unanimously passes bill banning conversion therapy

Isabelle Docto
Dec 2 2021, 

Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock

The House of Commons unanimously agreed to pass a bill that bans conversion therapy on Wednesday, December 1.

Bill C-4 will protect Canadians of all ages from the harmful practice by making it illegal in Canada.

David Lametti, Canada’s minister of justice and attorney general, took to Twitter to thank all members of parliament “for choosing the right side of history.”

The legislation plans on eliminating the practice of conversion therapy with four new Criminal Code offences. It would prohibit any person from undergoing conversion therapy, removing a minor from Canada to subject them to conversion therapy abroad, profiting from providing conversion therapy and advertising or promoting conversion therapy.

The bill is an expansion of Bill C-6, which was introduced in 2020, expanding the legislation to protect consenting adults from taking part in the harmful practice.

According to bill C-4, so-called conversion therapy is a practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or change a person’s gender identity to cisgender. It can also include forcing a person’s gender expression to conform to the sex assigned to them at birth and repressing a person’s non-heterosexual attraction and non-cisgender gender identity.You might also like:

The practice can go by many different names like “reparative therapy” and “reorientation therapy” and can take various forms, including counselling and behavioural modification.

Municipal governments have also taken steps to combat the practice. In 2018, Vancouver banned businesses that practice conversion therapy.

If the bill passes as-is, it will make conversion therapy a crime punishable by up to five years.

The legislation will now be looked over in the senate, where it could be subject to changes.

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Surprise Tory motion sends the bill for anti-conversion therapy through Commons

 DEC 2, 2021 

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole is asking questions to the government during the House of Commons questioning on November 25.Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press

The House of Commons has unanimously approved a proposal from the Conservative Party to speed up legislation banning conversion therapy.

The unexpected move on Wednesday, which resulted in cheers and applause among MPs, means that the legislation, which the government introduced for the third time earlier in the week, without being examined by committees, goes to the Senate for approval.

It also mitigates the prospect of a divisive debate on Bill C-4 among conservatives on how to deal with legislation surrounding the highly discredited therapy aimed at changing a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

At a third reading of the previous bill in June, 62 Conservative MPs voted against. Party leader Erin O’Toole was among 51 conservatives who voted for.

A few hours before Conservative MP Rob Moore moved the bill to pass the bill at all stages, Mr O’Toole told reporters outside a caucus meeting that the party would speed up the adoption of the new bill.

“There are many ways we can speed up the adoption of this legislation,” he said.

Mr. O’Toole, a self-proclaimed longtime ally of the LGBTQ2 community, said the caucus had had a “good discussion” on the issue, but did not elaborate.

Following the adoption of the proposal, Homosexual Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault said Wednesday’s development was a sign of progress in Canada and exemplifies what happens when Parliament works.

“I think political people in this country do not want to be preoccupied with opposing LGBTQ2 issues because they are fundamental human rights,” he said.

Justice Minister David Lametti said there were members of the Conservative caucus to be thanked.

“There are clearly people in the conservative caucus who exercised much of the leadership on the issue, and I thank them,” he said. “They have done a very important thing for the Canadians. That is what we can do when Parliament works together.”

He said he now hoped the bill could be accelerated through the Senate.

In a tweet, he said: “I would like to thank all the elected members for choosing the right side of the story.”

Gérard Deltell, the Conservative House leader, declined to reveal the dynamics of caucus discussions on the issue. He noted that no Conservative has been a supporter of conversion therapy, but there were previous concerns about the legislative options to deal with it.

He said Mr Moore had done a good job in solving the problem in the past. “He put forward a proposal to put the bill where it was six months ago before the prime minister called the unnecessary election,” he said.

“It’s in the hands of the Senate, which is exactly what could have been done six months ago.”

Mark Holland, head of the House of Commons, noted that there is “enormous power” in the Commons when members speak with one voice on a subject.

“When you take that time to work together, you can achieve results that we see today, and I think that is possible in other aspects,” he said. Netherlands.

Earlier this week, the Liberal government re-introduced a bill banning conversion therapy. The legislation was broader than an earlier version. The intention was to ban the practice exclusively for children and adults. Previously, the proposed legislation left open the possibility for an adult to give his consent to conversion therapy. The new bill closes the gap.

The bill was first tabled in March 2020, but died on the order paper when the government prorogated Parliament later that year. It was reintroduced not long after that and died when Parliament was dissolved ahead of the federal election.

BASEBALL BOSSES LOCKOUT PLAYERS
Manfred, Clark divergent views point to lengthy lockout

By STEPHEN HAWKINS and RONALD BLUM

1 of 12

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during a news conference in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Owners locked out players at 12:01 a.m. Thursday following the expiration of the sport's five-year collective bargaining agreement. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Hours into Major League Baseball’s first work stoppage in 26 years, Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark presented diametrically opposed views of each side’s negotiating positions that point to a lengthy lockout.

In separate news conferences less than a day into baseball’s ninth work stoppage, Manfred said the union’s proposal for greater free agency and wider salary arbitration would damage small-market teams.

Clark, the first former player to head the union, accused Manfred of “misrepresentations” in his letter to fans explaining the lockout, and said “it would have been beneficial to the process to have spent as much time negotiating in the room as it appeared it was spent on the letter.”

“It’s unnecessary to continue the dialogue,” Clark said of the lockout. “At the first instance in some time of a bumpy water, the recourse was a strategic decision to lock players out.”

The dispute threatens the start of spring training on Feb. 16 and opening day on March 31.

In many ways, after 26 1/2 years of labor peace the sides have reverted to the bitter squabbling that marked eight work stoppages from 1972-95, including a 7 1/2-month strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series.

Owners locked out players at 12:01 a.m. Thursday following the expiration of the sport’s five-year collective bargaining agreement.

“If you play without an agreement, you are vulnerable to a strike at any point in time,” Manfred said. “What happened in 1994 is the MLBPA picked August, when we were most vulnerable because of the proximity of the large revenue dollars associated with the postseason. We wanted to take that option away and try to force the parties to deal with the issues and get an agreement now.”

Players gained salary arbitration in 1974 and free agency two years later, and most of the previous disputes centered on the rise of big salaries caused by both, along with demands, mostly by small- and middle-market owners, to control costs and increase their competitive ability.

Management gained an ever-increasing series of restraints over the last two decades, such as a luxury tax on high payrolls, leading to a decrease in average salary during the latter years of the most recent labor deal.

Now players want more liberalized free agency and arbitration, leading to a confrontation.

“It’s a whole list of topics that they’ve told us they will not negotiate,” said Bruce Meyer, the players’ chief lawyer. “They will not agree, for example, to expand salary arb eligibility. They will not agree to any path for any player to achieve free agency earlier. They will not agree to anything that would allow players to have additional ways to get service time to combat service-time manipulation. They told us on all of those things they will not agree.”

Since 1976, players can become free agents after six seasons of major league service. The players’ association proposed starting with the 2023-24 offseason that it changes to six years or five years and age 30.5, with the age in the second option dropping to 29.5 starting in 2025-26.

Players want arbitration eligibility to decrease to two years of service, its level until the mid-1980s.

Central to the strife is the union’s anger over a larger number of teams in recent seasons jettisoning veterans in favor of rebuilding while accumulating prospects. Teams sometimes conclude rebuilding — the players call it tanking — is a preferred strategy for long-term success, even though it can rankle their fans.

“We feel our proposals would positively affect competitive balance, competitive integrity,” Meyer said. “We’ve all seen in recent years the problem with teams that don’t seem to be trying their hardest to win games or put the best teams on the field.”

In the signing scramble ahead of the lockout, teams committed $1 billion to contracts on Wednesday, including six nine-figure agreements that raised the total to nine in the last month and total spending to $2.5 billion since Oct. 1.

“The fact that this year there seems to be more activity sooner by clubs in free agency than a normal year raises more questions than it answers about all the other years,” Meyer said. “One good week of free agency doesn’t address all the negative trends that we’ve seen.”

MLB would keep existing free-agency provision or change eligibility to age 29.5.

“We already have teams in smaller markets that struggle to compete,” Manfred said. “Shortening the period of time that they control players makes it even harder for them to compete. It’s also bad for fans in those markets. The most negative reaction we have is when a player leaves via free agency. We don’t see that, making it earlier, available earlier, we don’t see that as a positive.”

Clark spoke at the hotel where negotiations broke off and Manfred about 14 miles away at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.

“The players’ association, as is their right, made an aggressive set of proposals in May, and they have refused to budge from the core of those proposals,” Manfred said. “Things like a shortened reserve period, a $100 million reduction in revenue sharing and salary arbitration for the whole two-year class are bad for the sport, bad for the fans and bad for competitive balance.”

An agreement by early-to-mid-March is needed for a full season.

“Speculating about drop dead deadlines at this point, not productive,” Manfred said. “So I’m not going to do it.”

Negotiations have made little to no progress since they began last spring. Manfred said a lockout was management’s only tool to speed the process.

“People need pressure sometimes to get to an agreement,” Manfred said. “Candidly, we didn’t feel that sense of pressure from the other side during the course of this week.”

___

Hawkins reported from Arlington, Texas, and Blum from New York

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

New data suggests 1 in 44 US children affected by autism

By LINDSEY TANNER

FILE - A student arrives as the sun rises during the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021 at Freeman Elementary School in Flint, Mich. New autism numbers released Thursday, Dec. 2 suggest more U.S. children are being diagnosed with the developmental condition and at younger ages. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)

New autism numbers released Thursday suggest more U.S. children are being diagnosed with the developmental condition and at younger ages.

In an analysis of 2018 data from nearly a dozen states, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that among 8-year-olds, 1 in 44 had been diagnosed with autism. That rate compares with 1 in 54 identified with autism in 2016.

U.S. autism numbers have been on the rise for several years, but experts believe that reflects more awareness and wider availability of services to treat the condition rather than a true increase in the number of affected children.

A separate CDC report released Thursday said that children were 50% more likely to be diagnosed with autism by age 4 in 2018 than in 2014.

“There is some progress being made and the earlier kids get identified, the earlier they can access services that they might need to improve their developmental outcome,” said CDC researcher and co-author Kelly Shaw.

Geraldine Dawson, director of Duke University’s Center for Autism and Brain Development, said the new estimate is similar to one found in research based on screening a large population of children rather than on those already diagnosed. As such, she said it may be closer to reflecting the true state of autism in U.S. children than earlier estimates.

The CDC reports are based on data from counties and other communities in 11 states — some with more urban neighborhoods, where autism rates tend to be higher. The rates are estimates and don’t necessarily reflect the entire U.S. situation, the authors said.

Autism rates varied widely — from 1 in 26 in California, where services are plentiful, to 1 in 60 in Missouri.

Overall, autism prevalence was similar across racial and ethnic lines, but rates were higher among Black children in two sites, Maryland and Minnesota. Until recently, U.S. data showed prevalence among white children was higher.

At a third site, Utah, rates were higher among children from lower-income families than those from wealthier families, reversing a longstanding trend, said report co-author Amanda Bakian, a University of Utah researcher who oversees the CDC’s autism surveillance in that state.

Bakian said that likely reflects more coverage for autism services by Medicaid and private health insurers.

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at @LindseyTanner.

LAW IN THE NEGATIVE

Judge blocks Texas law to stop social media firms from banning users
By James Pollard, The Texas Tribune

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 9 signed into law legislation to ban platforms with more than 50 million monthly users from removing a user over a “viewpoint.” File Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | 

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas law that seeks to restrict how social media companies moderate their content and was championed by Republicans who say the platforms are biased against conservatives.

The law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 9, would ban platforms with more than 50 million monthly users in the U.S. from removing a user over a "viewpoint" and require them to publicly report information about content removal and account suspensions. It was set to take effect Dec. 2.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the First Amendment protects social media platforms' right to moderate content and rejected the defendants' argument that such companies are "common carriers." Pitman also ruled that some aspects of the law were "prohibitively vague."

"This Court is convinced that social media platforms, or at least those covered by [House Bill] 20, curate both users and content to convey a message about the type of community the platform seeks to foster and, as such, exercise editorial discretion over their platform's content," Pitman wrote.

NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association - two trade groups representing some of the biggest names in e-commerce and social media, including Google and Twitter - filed a suit to block the law in September.

The presidents of both organizations told reporters then that the state cannot force platforms to host content that violates their community standards. In their lawsuit, the trade associations argue Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects websites from laws "imposing liability for good faith actions to restrict access to or availability of content that they consider objectionable."

In a Wednesday press release, NetChoice President and CEO Steve DelBianco called the ruling a victory for free speech.

"[House Bill] 20 would unleash a tidal wave of offensive content and hate speech crashing onto users, creators, and advertisers," he said in a statement. "Thanks to the decision made today, social media can continue providing high-quality services to Americans while simultaneously keeping them safe from irresponsible users and offensive content."

Supporters of the law say it ensures that users' political views go uncensored. State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park - who authored the bill, known as House Bill 20 - compared tech companies to "common carriers" like phone companies or cable providers, which are barred from customer discrimination.

But a federal judge who blocked a similar Florida law in June said such comparisons aren't accurate. Thomas Leatherbury, the director of the First Amendment Clinic at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, told The Texas Tribune in September that the Texas law is "clearly unconstitutional," with the same flaws as the Florida law "and then some."

By targeting only the largest social media platforms, Leatherbury said the law violates the equal protection clause. The law largely prohibits electronic mail service providers from blocking messages based on their content, which Leatherbury said restricts email services' First Amendment rights.

The Legislature passed the law after outcry from Republicans over perceived anti-conservative bias among major tech companies. That charge grew when Twitter permanently banned former President Donald Trump for inciting violence and purged over 70,000 accounts linked to dangerous conspiracy groups after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection attack of the U.S. Capitol.

Disclosure: Google and Southern Methodist University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/01/texas-social-media-law-blocked/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Companies are pocketing their fattest profits in more than 70 years, even as they complain about inflation

dreuter@insider.com (Dominick Reuter,Andy Kiersz) 

A sign showing gas prices at a station in San Diego, California, on November 9, 2021. Mike Blake/Reuters

Inflation is higher than it's been in 30 years, but corporate profits are soaring the most since 1950.

Companies aren't just raising prices enough to cover costs, they're padding their margins on top.

The ability to charge more is making some employers more comfortable with paying higher wages.

For the last several months, corporate executives have been loudly lamenting the rising cost of doing business due to supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages.

Indeed, inflation at levels not seen since the early 1990's has shown itself to be both larger and more persistent than almost anyone is comfortable with.

Roughly four out of five companies surveyed by the Richmond Federal Reserve reported hiking up prices for consumers to cover "at least some" of the input costs they were experiencing.

But those same execs have been a bit more discreet — apart from their quarterly earnings calls — about celebrating the record profit margins they've been able to achieve by not only passing costs on to customers, but by charging even more.

More than half of the companies surveyed by the small business services reviews website Digital.com reported raising prices beyond what was required to offset rising input costs.

"In other words, businesses are inflating already inflated prices in order to turn a bigger profit amid people's fears over uncertain times," the sites small business expert, Dennis Consorte, said in a statement.

Additionally, large firms were more likely to engage in this practice than small businesses, the survey found.

In fact, the latest data from the US Commerce Department shows that the last time corporate profit margins were so large was December 1950.

Even as ports battle bottlenecks, oil prices subside, and workers fill jobs — easing pressure on corporate margins — elevated prices have drawn accusations of gouging from President Joe Biden.

"Gas supply companies are paying less and making a lot more, and they do not seem to be passing that on to the consumers at the pump," Biden said last week. "Instead, companies are pocketing the difference as profit. That's unacceptable."

The upshot for workers of some of these price increases is that higher sales makes employers more willing to raise wages and compensation. And wages in some sectors have managed to stay ahead of inflation, marking a real increase in individuals' purchasing power.

"Businesses in the aggregate can safely say that when they spend more money on workers, that's going to be a situation where there is more revenue coming back to them," Robert C. King, an economic forecaster, told Bloomberg.

Still, gains in US corporate profits over the past year (37%) has vastly outstripped both inflation (6.2%) and compensation increases (12%), leading Morgan Stanley to recommend a return to a more equitable arrangement.

Even at their peak in the 1990's, corporate profit margins were roughly half of what they are today. Companies have been able to grow those margins to what they are today in part by paying workers a smaller share of what they produce.

The Morgan Stanley researchers write that the widening gap between company profits and worker compensation since the 1990's is unprecedented and poses a threat to the health of the economy.

Reducing that gap, they write, could be the key to unwinding the current inflationary cycle.

ECOCIDE
Kirby Inland Marine agrees to pay $15.3M for 2014 Texas oil spill

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine has agreed to pay $15.3 million in damages and assessment costs to resolve federal and state claims in connection to a massive 2014 oil spill in the Houston Ship Channel, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The United States and Texas concurrently filed a civli complaint with a proposed consent decree seeking money damages and costs under the Oil Pollution Act for injuries to natural resources after a Kirby oil barge spilled some 168,000 gallons of marine fuel oil into the channel's waters that then flowed into Galveston Bay and spread into the Gulf of Mexico and down the Texas coastline.

According to the complaint, the oil spill was caused by a Kirby tugboat that pushed two of the company's oil barges in front of a deep-draft bulk cargo ship in the Channel that struck the lead barge, rupturing its oil tank.

Some 160 miles of shoreline were oiled due to the spill, impacting sensitive marsh habitat, the national wildlife refuge of Matagorda Island, Mustang Island State Park and Padre Island National Seashore.

The spill either killed or harmed birds, dolphins and other marine life as well as federal and state marshes, beaches and sub-tidal habitats, federal prosecutors said, adding that it also caused the channel to close and recreational users to lose use of the marine and coastal environment.

The Justice Department said the millions of dollars will be used to plan, design and perform projects to restore or ameliorate the impacts to dolphins and other aquatic life, birds, beaches, marshes and recreational uses along the Texas coast.

The agreement follows a $4.9 million settlement the United States secured from Kirby on behalf of the Coast Guard in 2016 in a related Clean Water Act action.

"The Texas City Y oil spill impacted shoreline and marsh habitat on Matagorda Island, which is part of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge," Amy Lueders, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' southwest regional director said in a statement. "This settlement will provide for restoration of these injured resources as well as helping to recover shorebirds and other birds and their habitats impacted by the oil and cleanup activities."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ex-Puerto Rico mayor pleads guilty to bribery scheme with asphalt company


Federal investigators said former Catano Mayor Felix Delgado-Montalvo awarded about $10 million in government contracts to an asphalt and paving company. In return, he was given more than $100,000 in cash. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The former mayor of a seaside town in northern Puerto Rico has pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal corruption over dozens of contracts he awarded over a four-year period that earned him lucrative kickbacks, authorities said Thursday.

The U.S. Justice Department said the former Catano mayor, Felix Delgado-Montalvo, pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes.

Officials said he received cash payments and several luxury watches from a construction company after he awarded it 50 contracts between 2017 and 2020.

"Delgado-Montalvo unjustly enriched himself by accepting bribes, including cash payments from a particular person, whose business ... would then benefit by being rewarded municipal contracts, including a contract worth nearly $50,000," the department said in a statement.

Delgado-Montalvo resigned as Catano mayor on Tuesday.

Officials said Delgado-Montalvo agreed as part of a plea agreement to forfeit $105,000 in proceeds from the illegal kickback scheme.

The owner of the asphalt and paving company, Mario Villegas-Vargas, has been indicted for giving the bribes to Delgado-Montalvo. The value of the contracts that his company received totaled about $10 million, authorities said.

Villegas-Vargas has been charged with conspiracy, bribery and use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Delgado-Montalvo will be sentenced on March 8 and faces up to five years in prison.

44-foot pyramid of washing machines breaks Guinness World Record

 

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A British company raised awareness of electronics recycling and broke a Guinness World Record by assembling 1,496 recycled washing machines into a gigantic pyramid.

Guinness World Records said Currys PC World earned the record for largest washing machine pyramid when it arranged the appliances into a pyramid measuring 44 feet and 7 inches tall.

The pyramid's square base, composed of 256 washing machines, measures 31 feet, 7.5 inches on each side.

Currys said the record attempt was aimed at raising awareness of recycling services for electronics.