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Extreme weather is here — is your community ready?

Summer is here, which means wildfire and hurricane season is, too. Already in May, drought conditions and high temperatures led to significant California fires with more long, hot months to go. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts above-average hurricane activity, which would make it the seventh season in a row. It’s also clear these aren’t isolated occurrences. About one-third of Americans say they’ve faced extreme weather in just the past two years.

With the enormously high personal and economic costs caused by these disasters, it can feel like a daunting challenge to tackle. But there is something policymakers at all levels of government can do right now to make our communities safer, more resilient and better prepared for extreme weather: help ensure they use the most current consensus building codes and standards.

How much of a difference does it make to ensure roofs can withstand hurricane-force winds or homes have vents that prevent embers coming in during a wildfire? Every dollar spent on building code adoption yields 11 times more in savings. According to the National Institute of Building Sciences, “Building codes have greatly improved society’s disaster resilience, while adding only about 1 [percent] to construction costs relative to 1990 standards. The greatest benefits accrue to communities using the most recent code editions.”

Recognizing these benefits, the Biden-Harris administration just launched the National Initiative to Advance Building Codes, which will help governments at all levels incorporate the latest standards, enabling communities to be more resilient to hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and other extreme weather events. In March, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced its Building Codes Strategy with similar goals.

These efforts are vital for our communities. Only about one-third of counties, cities and towns have the latest codes in place. However, those that have incorporated modern building standards are saving $1.6 billion a year in avoided damage from hazards like floods, wind and earthquakes. Through 2040, those communities are projected to cumulatively save $132 billion — savings that will increase even more if additional jurisdictions incorporate modern standards.

Critically, the White House’s building codes initiative underscores that independent nonprofits like my organization, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and others like it undertake the highly technical, time- and resource-intensive process of developing and updating the standards that improve resilience to environmental hazards. This standards development system has worked efficiently and effectively for 125 years, and its importance has been affirmed repeatedly by Congress and previous administrations during that time.

But it’s a system that’s under attack.

Sometimes, laws or regulations incorporated by reference privately developed standards like the ones we create. For example, NFPA’s National Electrical Code, long recognized as the premier standard for safe electrical design, installation and inspection, has been incorporated by reference in whole or part in all 50 states. Unfortunately, a vocal minority of special interests wrongly argue that this action — a clear public benefit — forfeits copyright protection for the entire standard.

Absent from these critics’ misinformed arguments is the fact that standards development organizations are self-funded nonprofits. We undertake the costly process of developing and updating standards at our own expense with no subsidies or contributions from business or government. We then recoup our costs by publishing, selling and licensing standards to people who use them in the course of their work, a common way copyright owners seek to fund new and updated editions. This revenue is how we continue to operate without taxpayer or industry funding, which, in turn, could sway the content of the standards. Copyright protection ensures we can be independent and put safety first.

The goal of the special interests is to effectively dismantle the current standards development system, the value of which is not in question. There are no alternatives anywhere as effective or efficient. Any other approach will result in greater cost to taxpayers or more industry influence — with standards updated less frequently or, worse still, never developed at all.

We all agree that it’s critical to modernize our building codes to protect the life and property of millions of Americans. To be able to do that, government needs to continue to have access to robust, privately developed standards, as it has for decades. Protecting this system means making it clear that the incorporation by reference of health, safety and security standards doesn’t destroy the elements of their copyright protection.

Jim Pauley is the president and chief executive officer of the National Fire Protection Association.

Source: TEST FEED1

DOJ creates new Reproductive Rights task force

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday announced the creation of a new Reproductive Rights Task Force aimed at protecting abortion access and enforcing federal laws on reproduction rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

In a press release, the DOJ said the new task force will bring together representatives from several offices in the department including the Civil Rights Division, Office of the Solicitor General and U.S. Attorney’s offices.

DOJ Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who will chair the new task force, said the DOJ is “committed to protecting access to reproductive services” after the high court’s decision last month, which cleared the way for states to restrict or ban abortion access.

“The Court abandoned 50 years of precedent and took away the constitutional right to abortion, preventing women all over the country from being able to make critical decisions about our bodies, our health, and our futures,” Gupta said in a statement.

The DOJ says the Reproductive Rights Task Force will monitor state and local laws that: infringe on federal protections for reproductive care; impair a woman’s ability to seek abortion care in states where it is legal; ban federally approved abortion medication or prevent federal employees from accessing abortion care.

The task force is not entirely new but simply “formalizes an existing working group and efforts by the Department over the last several months” to enforce federal laws and protect abortion access, according to the DOJ.

The news comes after President Biden signed an executive order last week which instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to protect and expand access to abortion through medication shipped by mail.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has already said he will enforce the protection of abortion medication, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Biden administration has so far resisted calls to allow abortion access on federal lands and to declare a public health emergency after several states have already taken steps to severely restricted access to abortion.

The president’s resistance has angered progressives who are urging Biden to do more after the Supreme Court ruling. For his part, Biden has pushed for Congress to codify right to abortion.

Source: TEST FEED1

Pandemic led to surge in antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs,' CDC says

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in antibiotic-resistant “superbug” infections in hospitals, pushing back years of progress made combating antimicrobial resistance, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The threat of antimicrobial-resistant infections is not only still present but has gotten worse, according to the analysis. Hospital-onset deaths and infections from antimicrobial resistant bacteria both increased at least 15 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, the report found. 

The analysis highlighted seven different pathogens, including a 78 percent increase in a type of bacteria that can cause infections of the blood, urinary tract, lungs and wounds.

The U.S. health system has made a concerted effort to reduce deaths from antimicrobial-resistant infection. Dedicated infection prevention and control efforts dropped those infections 18 percent overall and by nearly 30 percent in hospitals between 2012 and 2017, the report said.

But the pandemic has undone much of the progress as it pushed health care facilities, health departments and communities “near their breaking points in 2020,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky wrote in the report.

In 2020, “we saw a significant increase in antimicrobial use, difficulty in following infection prevention and control guidance, and a resulting increase in healthcare-associated, antimicrobial-resistant infections in U.S. hospitals,” Walensky wrote.

The inpatient population in 2020 was very different from the pre-pandemic population — hospitals saw higher numbers of sicker patients who needed an extended length of stay, which increased their risk for resistant infections. 

The patients also required more frequent and longer use of catheters and ventilators, which  increased the risk of infections and spread of pathogens,” especially when combined with personal protective equipment and lab supply challenges, reduced staff, and longer lengths of stay,” the report stated.

The pandemic also greatly impacted antibiotic prescribing, the report found.When a patient receives an antibiotic they do not need, not only does the patient get no benefit, but they are also put at risk for side effects.

From March 2020 to October 2020, almost 80 percent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 received an antibiotic. ​​Antibiotics were the first option given to people who showed up at hospitals with a fever and shortness of breath — symptoms of a viral illness of COVID-19, not bacteria.

In 2020, more than 29,400 people died of antimicrobial-resistant infections commonly associated with health care, the report found. Of these, nearly 40 percent acquired the infection while hospitalized. Yet the total national burden of deaths from antibiotic resistant bacteria may be much higher, since data gaps caused by the pandemic hinder the analysis.

Source: TEST FEED1

House committee accepts Snyder's offer to testify virtually

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform has accepted an offer for Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder to testify virtually July 28.

Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney wrote a letter to attorney Karen Patton Seymour on Tuesday saying he would be allowed to testify via Zoom under the conditions set out by the committee’s initial subpoena “to ensure that Mr. Snyder’s testimony will be full and complete and will not be restricted in the way it would be if the deposition were conducted voluntarily.”

The committee is set to give Snyder access to exhibitions used in prior depositions and interview transcripts as well as descriptions of redacted information, which were among the elements requested by his representatives in a previous letter. July 28 was also one of their preferred dates after declining several previous invitations.

Snyder did not appear when first invited along with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who testified virtually June 22, with prior obligations and international travel given among the reasons.

His camp has until Wednesday at noon EDT to confirm Snyder will appear before the committee, which launched an investigation into the team’s workplace culture last year after the league did not release a report of its independent review into the organization, which prompted a $10 million fine.

Congress has since looked into accusations of pervasive sexual harassments of women who worked for the team by Snyder and other executives. According to a document released by the committee, Snyder conducted a “shadow investigation” that sought to discredit former employees making accusations of workplace sexual harassment, hired private investigators to intimidate witnesses, and used an overseas lawsuit as a pretext to obtain phone records and emails.

Patton Seymour wrote to the committee last week offering Snyder would be willing to testify voluntarily July 28 or 29. A message sent to a firm representing Snyder was not immediately returned.

Source: TEST FEED1

Twitter sues Elon Musk after attempt to terminate purchase

Twitter on Tuesday sued Elon Musk to force the Tesla CEO to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.

Musk on Friday said he was terminating the agreement because Twitter hadn’t given him enough information about bots on the platform.

A judge in the business-specialized Delaware Court of Chancery will now determine whether his reasons for exiting the binding contract are legitimate.

If not, Musk could be compelled to complete the purchase at the price point he offered in April of $54.20 per share.

“Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he— unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” the lawsuit says.

Musk’s team made three arguments for why it believes the agreement has been violated: that Twitter did not share sufficient information about bots, that Twitter’s statements about bots are wrong and the truth lowers the company’s value, and that Twitter broke an agreement by terminating two executives.

“These claims are pretexts and lack any merit,” the lawsuit filed Tuesday argues. “Musk, by contrast, has been acting against this deal since the market started turning, and has breached the merger agreement repeatedly in the process.”

The lawsuit alleges that Musk’s arguments using bots to justify terminating the deal are “a model of hypocrisy.”

“One of the chief reasons Musk cited on March 31, 2022 for wanting to buy Twitter was to rid it of the ‘[c]rypto spam’ he viewed as a ‘major blight on the user experience,'” it reads. “But when the market declined and the fixed-price deal became less attractive, Musk shifted his narrative, suddenly demanding ‘verification’ that spam was not a serious problem on Twitter’s platform, and claiming a burning need to conduct ‘diligence’ he had expressly forsworn.”

Twitter also alleges in the suit that Musk has violated the agreement several times by, among other things, publicly slamming the company and its staff.

The legal battle over Musk’s agreement to purchase all outstanding shares of Twitter and take the company private promises to be a lengthy one.

The case could take months to resolve, according to legal experts. While that is faster than cases of this magnitude tend to take in other courts, it could still be a damaging period for Twitter’s business interests moving forward.

Musk is unlikely to be able to exit the deal fully unscathed, but there are several potential scenarios where the payout on his end ends up being less than the $44 billion initially promised.

Both parties at any point could agree to jointly terminate the agreement and renegotiate a different price. A settlement could also be reached in which Musk pays Twitter some damages, potentially in ten digits, but does not go through with the purchase.

Updated at 5:39 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Alabama inmate who escaped with corrections officer indicted for murder

The Alabama inmate who escaped with a corrections officer over the spring was recently indicted on felony murder charges for the death of the officer, who killed herself when police apprehended the pair.

The indictment accuses inmate Casey White — who has no relation to corrections officer Vicki White but who police say was her love interest — of causing Vicky’s death while committing a first-degree escape from the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Ala.

Chris Connolly, the district attorney in Lauderdale County, said a warrant was issued for Casey White on July 6 after a grand jury returned the indictment, according to a Tuesday news release sent to The Hill.

Casey White, who is currently being held at an Alabama Department of Corrections state prison, captured the attention of the nation when he escaped from Lauderdale County Jail on April 29 with Vicky White.

Police said Vicky, who was then the assistant director of corrections at the jail, took Casey out of his cell for an unscheduled appointment before fleeing in a getaway car. Casey was being held on charges that he stabbed a woman to death in 2015.

The pair were on the run during an 11-day manhunt before police and the U.S. Marshal’s Office ran them down in Evansville, Ind., and apprehended them after a rollover crash.

Vicky shot herself on the scene and Casey was taken into custody. The Vanderburgh County Coroner ruled Vicky White’s death a suicide in May.

Casey White is also serving a 75-year sentence after he was convicted and sentenced in 2019 of attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery and other charges.

After apprehending him in May, Indiana Sheriff Dave Wedding said Casey White had no remorse over the death of Vicky White, who police said had a special relationship over the course of two years.

Source: TEST FEED1

Experts say US must not let EU lead on cybersecurity

Cybersecurity experts argued on Tuesday that the U.S. is falling behind the European Union when it comes to being a leader in the realm of cyber security.

Experts called the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation, a law governing data privacy and security rules, the global standard. The law, adopted in 2018, renewed how businesses handle personal data in Europe, with large fines for companies that fail to comply.

Panelists at a virtual Council on Foreign Relations event echoed recommendations made in a new cybersecurity report by the foreign policy think tank. 

The experts, including former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), said the U.S. needs to build cyber coalitions with allied nations, create a digital trade agreement and create an international cybercrime center, among other policy suggestions.

At the event, moderated by New York Times technology reporter Cecilia King, experts detailed a multitude of cyber threats, including ransomware, sewing social discord on social media, interfering in elections and vital infrastructure attacks. 

The new reality of cyberspace, they argued, proliferates threats against individuals and nations and policymakers need to address these issues to bolster national defense. 

Hurd said Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers. 

He pointed to a 2021 incident in Florida, where a hacker gained access to a water treatment facility and adjusted the amount of sodium hydroxide to dangerous levels but was thwarted by an employee.

“The hack of the water treatment plants in south Florida. Someone tried to poison the water,” Hurd said. “That made it real to people.”

The current prospects for congressional action, though, seem bleak, with King noting there has been little to no movement on legislation. Panelists said the issue is clearly not a policy priority in the U.S. at the moment.

Hurd said the House and Senate need to “step up” and legislate in the space where the European Union has been leading. 

Experts said the U.S. has failed to adapt to a cyberspace that is fragmented, with countries like China and Iran harnessing their own version of the internet. They said the reality is a far cry from the open and free vision for the internet that U.S. policymakers hoped for, with change in the space coming fast and furious over the past two decades.

While efforts from lawmakers have been dormant, it has left private companies to adopt their own rules for handling data. 

Niloofar Razi Howe, a senior operating partner at the global investment platform Energy Impact Partners, said government leadership is needed to steer privacy and security norms.

“Cyber is no longer a domain where the private sector sits on one side and the government sides on the other,” Howe said. “There is a role that only the government can play when it comes to policy. The private sector has to have a seat at the table.”

Hurd left lawmakers with a warning, saying that should Congress act now, the “best case scenario is we’re tied with the Chinese.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Barbie releasing Jane Goodall doll made of recycled plastic

Mattel on Tuesday announced that the Barbie brand will be releasing a Jane Goodall doll made of recycled plastic to recognize the renowned anthropologist.

The new product, part of Barbie’s “Inspiring Women” series, is available at retailers immediately and coincides with the 62-year anniversary of Goodall’s famed first visit to Gombe National Park in Tanzania.

“My entire career, I’ve wanted to help inspire kids to be curious and explore the world around them — just like I did when I first traveled to Tanzania 62 years ago,” Goodall said in a release. “I’m thrilled to partner with Barbie and encourage young children to learn from their environment and feel a sense that they can make a difference.”

Goodall is the latest installment in the series, which Barbie markets as paying tribute to courageous women who took risks and paved the way for future generations.

The existing dolls in the series include Ida B. Wells, Maya Angelou, Billie Jean King and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Barbie on Tuesday also introduced its “2022 Career of the Year Eco-Leadership” doll set. The set includes a chief sustainability officer, conservation scientist, renewable energy engineer and an environmental advocate.

The doll-maker said the new products are the first in both series that are made from recycled ocean-bound plastic. The products are also the first in their series to be certified as carbon neutral, a designation administered by Climate Impact Partners.

The announcements are the latest installment of Barbie’s sustainability campaign, dubbed “The Future of Pink is Green.”

Mattel, which owns the Barbie brand, is seeking to shift all of its products and packaging to recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials by 2023.

“We are proud to unveil our first sustainable Barbie Inspiring Women and Career of the Year Eco-Leadership team dolls, which further demonstrate our shared commitment to creating a more sustainable future,” said Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and global head of Barbie and dolls. 

“Kids need more role models like Dr. Jane Goodall, because imagining they can be anything is just the beginning – seeing it makes all the difference,” she said. “We hope that this collection and homage to a groundbreaking pioneer for women in science and conservation inspires kids to learn more about green careers, how they can protect the planet and act out sustainable stories through doll play.”

Source: TEST FEED1