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Angry Democrats call on Biden to do more on abortion
Democrats say President Biden needs to take a more forceful approach in leading the charge on abortion rights and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade in order to make it a dominant issue in this fall’s midterm elections.
Anger seemed to rip through the party in the hours after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, with some Democrats saying the administration needs to do more to galvanize the base.
“It’s infuriating. What the hell have we been doing?” said one angered Democratic strategist. “Why are we not talking about this every single day? Why hasn’t Biden made this the issue for Democrats? If we don’t step up, we’ve got ourselves to blame.”
Since a leaked draft of the gut-punching Supreme Court opinion surfaced in early May, Democrats have said they wanted to see more guidance from Biden. But the president has been consumed by domestic issues including record-high inflation and the latest mass shootings in the country, in addition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Democrats say Biden must do more to lead and fire up the base if he hopes to get Democrats to turn out this fall.
“A more forceful stance would be welcome from the rank and file,” said William Galston, who chairs the Brookings Institution’s governance studies program.
Galston, unlike some other Democrats, agreed with Biden’s approach to date, saying it wouldn’t have been wise for Biden to speak actively on the issue before the final opinion was issued by the court.
“It would have been embarrassing to get out in front of an appeal that didn’t happen,” he said. “I don’t fault the president for holding his fire, but now is the time to pull the trigger.”
Biden delivered an impassioned speech from the White House on Friday hours after the ruling. In it, he previewed a message for Democrats ahead of the midterms, saying the ruling risked women’s health and could foretell erosions of other rights. At one point, he struggled to find the right words to describe the moment. “It’s a – it just – it just stuns me,” he said.
The president called on voters to elect more pro-abortion rights lawmakers so that Congress could pass a right to abortion through federal law.
“This decision must not be the final word. My administration will use all of its appropriate, lawful powers, but Congress must act,” Biden said in prepared remarks. “And with your vote, you can act. You can have the final word. This is not over.”
Biden acknowledged that he is severely limited in his executive authority to protect access to abortion but pledged to what he could, including by protecting access to abortion pills and contraception.
“My administration will defend that bedrock right,” Biden said. “I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack”
Before leaving the Cross Hall, Biden pledged he’d have “more to say on this in the weeks to come.”
Biden on Friday was preparing to travel to Europe for Group of Seven (G-7) and NATO meetings that are expected to focus chiefly on the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.
The White House has been quietly holding meetings with abortion advocates, state lawmakers and other stakeholders over the past several weeks to better understand the abortion-related laws in various states.
Friday’s speech represented his first formal remarks on abortion rights. Vice President Harris has played a more public-facing role for the administration on abortion, gathering a group of Democratic state attorneys general on abortion rights as recently as Thursday.
“What’s challenging for the president is that all the other domestic challenges have prevented him from having the political capital to galvanize the base in a moment like this,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
Some Democrats maintain Biden could have done more in the lead up to this moment, including by making Harris the point person pounding the drum on the issue.
“How great would that have been?” a second Democratic strategist said. “Why aren’t we deploying someone who understands and could speak to this moment from the heart?”
Harris spoke about the ruling Friday from Illinois, an appearance that was supposed to focus on the administration’s maternal healthcare agenda.
“The great aspiration of our nation has been to expand freedom. But the expansion of freedom clearly is not inevitable. It is not something that just happens, not unless we defend our most fundamental principles, not unless we elect leaders who stand up for those principles,” Harris told her audience.
Polls have shown steady support for abortion rights in recent years. A Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month found that 61 percent of American adults believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while only 37 percent say that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Democrats see abortion as a galvanizing issue, particularly among younger voters and independent women.
Roshni Nedungadi, chief research officer at HIT Strategies, a research firm that specializes in polling of young Americans and people of color, said that a recent survey showed that 75 percent of young voters 18-34 years old say protecting abortion access is an important issue for them.
But Nedungadi said that young voters she has interviewed in focus groups don’t believe Democrats are doing enough to fight back on issues like abortion.
“They feel that they need to see Democrats and the White House fighting for them,” she said.
Nedungadi complimented Biden’s speech following the ruling but said the president would be best served by talking about abortion more frequently and deputizing more officials to speak about it with the public.
“I really think as many voices as they can have, saying the same thing over and over again,” she said.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Biden 'does not agree with' expanding Supreme Court: Jean-Pierre
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Saturday that President Biden “does not agree with” expanding the Supreme Court after it ruled a day before to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion.
“So, I know I’ve … I was asked this question yesterday, and I’ve been asked it before — and I think the president himself … about expanding the Court. That is something that the president does not agree with. That is not something that he wants to do,” Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One while en route to Munich, Germany.
She argued that the Supreme Court’s “extreme ruling” to overturn Roe v. Wade was “so out of step” given the popularity among Americans of upholding the 50-year precedent.
“It’s so out of step not only with this decision, but it’s also so out of step with the Constitution,” she added.
In the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion last month that signaled that the high court would eliminate federal-level abortion protections, some Democrats called for additional seats to be added to the court, which currently has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Some Democrats have urged filibuster reform, too, though those efforts are likely doomed given Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have both repeatedly said they are against changing the rule that requires most legislation to secure 60 votes to pass in the Senate.
Biden has previously said he was mulling the idea of using executive action to protect abortion rights, though it is unclear what actions he would take.
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Sunday shows preview: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; Jan. 6 hearings continue
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected federal abortion rights for almost half a century, will likely dominate this week’s Sunday shows circuit.
The court issued its ruling on Friday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case concerned a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. Six justices voted to uphold the law, with five of them choosing to go farther in ruling that the Constitution does not grant protection for the right to abortion.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, is similar to a draft that leaked last month revealing that the court was poised to overturn Roe. The ruling also overturned Casey v. Planned Parenthood, a 1992 case that allowed states to place more restrictions on abortion access but upheld a constitutional right to abortion.
Following the ruling, a range of Republican leaders applauded the decision, arguing that Roe was decided wrongly and that the court has now rightly returned decisions on abortion rights to the states.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said in a release following the decision that the ruling is a “turning point” for the United States, adding that he fought against abortion for decades. After Arkansas’s attorney general certified that the court’s had overturned Roe, the state’s trigger law went into effect banning abortion.
Hutchinson, who will appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said he will direct the Arkansas Department of Health to enforce the state’s law and conduct “necessary inspections” to ensure abortion providers are following the law and understand the penalties for breaking it.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) also praised the ruling, saying that abortion has “two victims: the unborn child and the mother.” The state’s trigger law banning abortion also went into effect after the ruling.
Noem said in a release that she plans to call a special session of the state legislature to “save lives and help mothers” who will be impacted by the decision. She will appear on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We must do what we can to help mothers in crisis know that there are options and resources available for them,” Noem said. “Together, we will ensure that abortion is not only illegal in South Dakota – it is unthinkable.”
Republican members of Congress also commended the ruling. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) tweeted that the decision will give the American people “their proper voice” on the issue, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on the House floor that the decision is a “win for the Constitution and a win for the sanctity of human life.”
Both will appear on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted that the decision is a “long-overdue constitutional correction,” saying that Roe was wrongly decided from the beginning. He said it was one of the “largest power grabs” in the history of the Supreme Court.
He will appear on “Fox News Sunday.”
Top Democratic leaders have been just as vocal on the other side of the issue, denouncing the decision as taking away protections for women that have stood for almost 50 years.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will also appear on ABC’s “This Week.” She said after the ruling was handed down that six “radical” justices on the court are responsible for stripping away a constitutional right.
“After decades of scheming, Republican politicians have finally forced their unpopular agenda on the rest of America,” Warren said in a statement.
Republican leaders have called for appointing judges who will oppose Roe v. Wade for years, and former President Trump said opposing abortion rights was a characteristic he was looking for in appointing judges to the Supreme Court. He appointed three of the court’s current justices during his term, all of whom voted to overturn Roe.
Warren wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times along with Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) on Saturday that President Biden needs to take executive action to protect abortion rights, including declaring a public health emergency on the issue.
“The danger is real, and Democrats must meet it with the urgency it deserves,” they wrote.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) made similar calls for Biden to take action in response to the ruling. She said when meeting with protesters that Biden should have abortion clinics opened on federal lands in states that have banned abortions.
The theory behind the policy would be that since the land is owned by the federal government, states do not have jurisdiction over these areas and could not enforce abortion bans.
Ocasio-Cortez said Biden and Democratic leaders need to take steps beyond encouraging voting for Democratic candidates so the party can gain sufficient power in Congress to potentially pass legislation on the issue.
Democrats hold a majority in the House and the tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate, but Senate filibuster rules require most legislation to receive at least 60 votes to pass in the upper chamber. Under those rules, Democrats would need at least 10 Republican votes in favor of codifying the protections of Roe into law in order to approve such legislation.
Ocasio-Cortez is appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The ruling has also received international attention as numerous world leaders have criticized the decision.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the court removing people’s constitutional right to abortion will be a “big step backwards” that will affect others’ thinking around the world. Johnson will appear on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The work of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will also be likely be discussed on a few shows as the committee wraps up a week that included two additional public hearings. The hearings this week focused on two elements of Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election: pressure on local and state officials and on the Justice Department.
After holding a series of five public hearings throughout June, the committee decided to postpone its remaining hearings until next month as it obtains new evidence and issues subpoenas to additional witnesses.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the committee has been confronted with a “deluge” of new evidence since the hearings started, and members need time to organize it and determine how it will play into the committee’s plans for the remaining hearings.
“And we just need to catch our breath, go through the new evidence, and then incorporate it into the hearings we have planned,” said Raskin, who is appearing on ABC’s “This Week.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) took a leading role in asking questions on Tuesday of state officials whom Trump attempted to convince against certifying their state’s election results.
He questioned Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R), Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) and Raffensperger’s deputy, Gabe Sterling. He also spoke to Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia elections worker who received death threats after being falsely accused of counting fraudulent ballots for Biden.
Schiff will be on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
CBS’s “Face the Nation” will also feature Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who took a lead role in questioning at the committee’s hearing last week that focused on Trump’s pressure on former Vice President Mike Pence. Aguilar said in an interview with NBC News last week that Trump knew the Capitol had been breached when he sent a tweet criticizing Pence for refusing to not certify the election results. Marc Short, Pence’s, former chief of staff, will appear on the show as well.
Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows:
ABC’s “This Week” — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.); Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.); Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.); Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Hutchinson; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.); Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence; Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.); David Malpass, president of the World Bank
CNN’s “State of the Union” — Secretary of State Antony Blinken; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; Stacey Abrams, Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia
“Fox News Sunday” — Abrams; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
FOX News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.); Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee; John Solomon, editor-in-chief of “Just the News”; Mark Levin, host of “Life, Liberty And Levin”; Monica De La Cruz, Texas congressional candidate (R)
Source: TEST FEED1
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Pfizer, BioNTech say updated vaccines offer 'substantially higher immune response' against omicron
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced Saturday that updated versions of their vaccines that were adapted to the omicron variant of COVID-19 deliver a “substantially higher immune response” against the strain.
Studies “found that a booster dose of both Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates elicited a substantially higher immune response against Omicron BA.1 as compared to the companies’ current COVID-19 vaccine,” according to a press release from the companies, referring to the original omicron variant.
One of the updated vaccines is monovalent, targeting omicron alone, and the other is bivalent, combining the monovalent one with the companies’ vaccine targeting the initial COVID-19 strain.
Both vaccines, when taken as a fourth booster shot, were found to significantly increase neutralization against omicron. The companies said that after the shots were administered, each in two different dosage amounts, the monovalent booster increased that neutralization 13.5- and 19.6-fold and the bivalent increased it 9.1- and 10.9-fold.
The studies were conducted with 1,234 adults aged 56 or older.
The vaccines also “demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine,” the companies said.
They added that preliminary laboratory studies showed the updated vaccines performing well against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, though not as well as they were found to against the original omicron variant.
“Omicron has newly evolving sublineages that have outcompeted BA.1 and exhibit a trend of increasing potential for immune escape,” said BioNTech CEO and Cofounder Ugur Sahin. “We will therefore remain vigilant and are prepared to rapidly adapt our Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates to emerging sublineages if epidemiological and laboratory data suggest.”
Pfizer and BioNTech have shared these results with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency.
The companies will discuss the data with regulators with the goal of “rapidly introducing [an] adapted booster to address current and future variants,” the press release said.
Discussions with the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will take place on Tuesday and with the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities on Thursday.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Action to break up ‘Big Tech’ will mean price hikes
In a worrisome sign for the economy, American consumers are feeling a financial pinch. Facing higher prices for gas, groceries, and a range of other goods and services, Congress is considering legislation that, if passed, would mean even higher prices for consumers.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is pushing for a summer vote on a key antitrust bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), which prohibits tech giants from providing “store branded” products and services, which are often cheaper than other name-brand products. There is no doubt that AICOA represents an unprecedented disregard towards consumers, families, workers, and the economy, which are all already struggling from spiraling inflation.
This proposed legislation couldn’t have come at a worse time for consumers. Not only are AICOA’s supporters tone-deaf to the looming impact of a recession, but they also ignore the reality that cracking down on large companies might result in higher — not lower — consumer prices, which does not help inflation.
A recent survey by American Edge Project shows that almost 9 in 10 Americans want the government to prioritize policies that reduce inflation and the cost of living — not exacerbate the issues. These findings are corroborated by a recent survey from the American Consumer Institute which found that consumers are deeply skeptical of efforts to regulate large technology companies if doing so risks jeopardizing services like Amazon Prime.
In addition, while the survey found that 22 percent of respondents strongly agreed that “Amazon is too big,” 52 percent of Amazon users either opposed or strongly opposed efforts to break up Amazon into smaller companies and 67 percent of Prime users opposed or strongly opposed legislation that would potentially eliminate Prime services. Only 25 percent of respondents favored or strongly favored such action.
Among consumers shopping at Amazon, the survey found that 97 percent were either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with Amazon Prime services. Only 1 percent of respondents reported being dissatisfied. One of the major reasons consumers cited for high customer satisfaction was low prices.
To make matters even worse for consumers, AICOA also contains provisions that would prohibit targeted companies from providing free ancillary services such as Google maps alongside Google search results, and require platforms like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and other large tech companies to share customer data with third-party vendors, which could have extensive negative ramifications for consumer data privacy and security.
Moreover, the very same platforms that provide services and products at competitive prices also help small businesses reach a large pool of consumers. Not only do small businesses use these platforms to sell and market their goods, but they also rely on the integrated services provided by these companies, such as warehousing and shipping. Recent research from the Data Catalyst Institute shows that 90% of small rural businesses find these tools valuable to their operations. Online platforms were essential for small business survival during COVID and will remain crucial as we continue an accelerated transition to a more digital economy. In fact, new polls have found that small businesses say online marketplaces help them compete with larger retailers by making it easier to bring new products to market (64 percent), increasing access to new markets (59 percent), and lowering the barriers to connecting with new customers (46 percent).
It is evident that the Senate bill under consideration would “create more problems than it solves,” especially under the current economic uncertainty. As elections approach, Congress should consider addressing issues that consumers and voters care about, like inflation, and not destroy the competitive online marketplace that offers consumers more options at lower prices.
Prioritizing legislation that consumers don’t care about and that would ultimately harm them should not be a priority for Washington.
Krisztina Pusok and Steve Pociask are with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit educational and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.
Source: TEST FEED1
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White House condemns Oslo shooting ahead of Pride event
The White House condemned a shooting that took place early Saturday in Oslo, Norway, around a gay bar and ahead of the capital’s Pride parade later that day.
“The horrific shooting in Norway this morning has been felt around the world. The United States strongly condemns this act of terror. We stand in solidarity with the families of the victims, the diverse and strong LGBTQI+ community of Oslo, our close NATO ally Norway, and all who have been devastated by this senseless act,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
He said that the U.S. had offered its assistance to the Norwegian government following the attack.
Earlier on Saturday, two people were left dead and a number of others wounded after a gunman opened fire close to London Pub, a gay bar in Oslo, and hours ahead of a Pride parade slated to happen in the capital later on Saturday.
Officials have detained a 42-year-old citizen from Norway originally born in Iran and identified him as a suspect in the shooting, according to The New York Times. He faces multiple charges, including terrorist acts, murder and attempted murder, per The Washington Post.
The incident is being probed as both a hate crime and an act of terrorism.
Oslo Pride said the parade was canceled and urged people to not show up anyway; multiple news outlets reported that the capital later saw people marching through the streets.
Other politicians around the world offered their condolences
“My condolences go to the victims and to their relatives, to the injured and to the Norwegian people. We stand stronger against hatred if we stand together,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, claiming the suspect was an “Islamic terrorist.”
“London stands with Oslo. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the victims, their families and all those affected by this horrific attack, hours before Oslo’s #Pride was due to take place. #LoveIsLove and hate will never win,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted.
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Canceled flights; parked jets: Airlines struggle to meet demand in chaotic summer travel season
Airlines and passengers are suffering through a chaotic post-pandemic phase that has seen the industry struggle to deal with surging demand, leaving many passengers unhappy about everything from the prices of their tickets to aggravation over whether they’ll reach their destination.
Demand for flights has surged this summer to levels not seen since before the pandemic. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data shows 2.45 million people passed through the nation’s airports on Friday, the highest single-day total since Feb. 11, 2020.
Yet this demand is being met with a shortage of supplies.
Airlines have shed millions of seats from their summer schedules, which will push prices higher. They’ve delayed and canceled thousands of flights, and hundreds of jets remain parked despite the high demand. Some smaller airports have lost commercial flights entirely.
Passenger output on the Friday preceding Father’s Day and Juneteenth nearly broke pandemic records, but the same day airlines delayed more than 8,900 U.S. flights and canceled nearly 1,500 others, according to FlightAware.
Explanations for the struggle run the gamut from a pilot shortage, high fuel costs and even extreme weather.
The craziness has attracted the attention of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who met with airline executives last week. Buttigieg’s department said on Thursday that complaints about airline service were up more than 300 percent in April compared to the same time in 2019.
“Demand is as strong as we’ve ever seen it, people want to get out there and travel,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month. “The key is just simply sizing the airline for the resources we have available.”
Airlines received billions in stimulus dollars from the federal government to preserve their payrolls during the pandemic, but companies still resorted to retirement buyouts and hiring freezes as demand sank, exacerbating what many in the industry viewed as an existing pilot shortage.
As flying demand now returns, many airlines say they struggle to attract pilots, leaving hundreds of planes idling with no one to fly them. The Regional Airline Association estimates airlines would hire 8,000 more pilots if they were available.
Commercial carriers are now downsizing, shedding in the last six weeks a combined 5.66 million seats from their U.S. departure schedules in July and August, according to data shared by Flight Data Inc.
“We don’t have enough pilots to fly all the airplanes,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in December as the airline sidelined 100 planes.
American Airlines said earlier this month it would also park 100 planes due to the pilot shortage.
Many in the industry point to high barriers to enter the industry.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires pilots to fly hundreds of hours before they work at an airline and mandates retirement by age 65. A spokesperson for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill he is considering introducing legislation to raise the retirement age.
But the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world’s largest pilot union, sent its members to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill earlier this month, pointing to figures showing the country has recently returned to producing more certified pilots than before the pandemic.
“The United States is producing a record number of pilots, yet some are still trying to claim we need to weaken aviation safety rules to fix a problem that doesn’t exist,” ALPA President Joe DePete said in a statement.
Pilot groups affiliated with ALPA have found success in recent weeks leveraging airlines’ need for labor, with many negotiating substantial raises.
Many airline workers are complaining about working longer hours and experiencing more last-minute swaps. Workers are prevented from easily going on strike under federal regulations, but have voiced their discontent in other ways.
Alaska Airlines pilots voted overwhelmingly to merely authorize a strike last month. Delta Air Lines pilots last week penned an open letter to customers. Southwest Airlines off-duty pilots picketed in Texas.
Regional carriers, which operate flights marketed by major airlines from smaller airports to larger hubs, have been some of the most desperate to retain pilots.
Pilot unions at three regional carriers wholly owned by American Airlines — Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines — recently announced contract agreements that include “significant pay increases.”
Ric Wilson, Envoy Air’s vice president of flight operations, told The Hill that the airline is primarily having issues with losing to larger carriers its captains, the first-in-command on planes who face stricter requirements.
Wilson said the regional airline this month agreed to increase new pay rates and give pilots an additional 50 percent premium for two years, which comes after Envoy was losing 80 pilots per month.
“Since we’ve announced these, we’ve already seen that start to curtail and slow down,” Wilson said. “So we’re very hopeful that what the structure we’ve gone to is going to help us to retain those pilots in the future, instead of losing them to some of these other carriers.”
Regional Airline Association (RAA) President Faye Malarkey Black told The Hill that beyond pay increases, policy changes are needed to increase equity in the hiring pipeline, like rightsizing student loans and expanding training pathways.
“Pay alone is not solving this problem because it does not address the underlying barriers to career access,” Black said. “People without wealth can’t afford to train for this career because student loans don’t reach the cost of a pilot’s higher education.”
As regional airlines work to increase their pilot counts, many have resorted to cutting back service to smaller airports. Forty-three airports will lose more than 50 percent of their commercial service in the second half of this year compared to the equivalent period in 2019, according to Flight Data Inc.
Some have lost commercial flights entirely. American Airlines announced on Tuesday it would drop its regional service to Dubuque, Iowa, leaving the airport with no other commercial carriers.
The cutback marks the fourth regional airport that has lost all its commercial flights since late 2019, according to Flight Data Inc.
Richard Howell, the executive director of Williamsport Regional Airport in Pennsylvania, told The Hill that the airport lost its commercial service in September.
Howell said he believes there is now strong enough demand for commercial service to return, but airlines so far have declined as a result of high oil prices and the pilot shortage.
“As long as those jets are in the desert, markets our size are going to be challenged to bring service back,” Howell said.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Norway shaken by attack that kills 2 during Pride festival
OSLO, Norway (AP) — A gunman opened fire in Oslo’s nightlife district early Saturday, killing two people and leaving more than 20 wounded in what the Norwegian security service called an “Islamist terror act” during the capital’s annual LGBTQ Pride festival.
Investigators said the suspect, identified as a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, was arrested after opening fire at three locations in downtown Oslo.
Police said two men, one in his 50s and and the other his 60s, died in the shootings. Ten people were treated for serious injuries, but none of them was believed to be in life-threatening condition. Eleven others had minor injuries.
The Norwegian Police Security Service raised its terror alert level from “moderate” to “extraordinary” — the highest level — after the attack, which sent panicked revelers fleeing into the streets or trying to hide from the gunman.
The service’s acting chief, Roger Berg, called the attack an “extreme Islamist terror act” and said the suspect had a “long history of violence and threats,” as well as mental health issues.
He said the agency, known by its Norwegian acronym PST, first became aware of the suspect in 2015 and later grew concerned he had become radicalized and was part of an unspecified Islamist network.
Norwegian media named the suspect as Zaniar Matapour, an Oslo resident who arrived in Norway with his family from a Kurdish part of Iran in the 1990s.
The suspect’s defense lawyer, John Christian Elden, said his client “hasn’t denied” carrying out the attack, but he cautioned against speculation on the motive.
“He has not given any reason. It is too early to conclude whether this is hate crime or terrorism,” Elden said in an email to The Associated Press.
Upon the advice of police, organizers canceled a Pride parade that was set for Saturday as the highlight of a weeklong festival. Scores of people marched through the capital anyway, waving rainbow flags.
Police attorney Christian Hatlo said it was too early to say whether the gunman specifically targeted members of the LGBTQ community.
“We have to look closer at that, we don’t know yet,” he said.
Police said civilians assisted them in detaining the man in custody, who was being held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and terrorism, based on the number of people targeted at multiple locations.
Investigators seized two weapons after the attack: a handgun and an automatic weapon. Hatlo described both as “not modern” but did not give details.
Not far from Oslo’s cathedral, crime scene tape cordoned off the bars where the shootings took place, including the London Pub, which is popular with the city’s LGBTQ community.
Crowds gathered outside and dropped off cards and flowers at impromptu memorials.
Martin Ebbestad, 29, had walked by earlier, seen the memorials and returned with flowers.
London Pub “is our go-to place. My boyfriend left 20 minutes before (it happened). He was sitting outside in the smoking area,” Ebbestad said. “We know this place so well. It doesn’t feel unsafe, but it does feel very close.”
Norwegian television channel TV2 showed footage of people running down Oslo streets in panic as shots rang out in the background. Olav Roenneberg, a journalist from Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, said he witnessed the shooting.
“I saw a man arrive at the site with a bag. He picked up a weapon and started shooting,” Roenneberg told NRK. “First I thought it was an air gun. Then the glass of the bar next door was shattered and I understood I had to run for cover.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere called the shooting a “cruel and deeply shocking attack on innocent people.”
He said that while the motive was unclear, the shooting had caused fear and grief in the LGBTQ community.
“We all stand by you,” Gahr Stoere wrote on Facebook.
Christian Bredeli, who was at the London Pub, told Norwegian newspaper VG that he hid on the fourth floor with a group of about 10 people until he was told it was safe to come out.
“Many were fearing for their lives,” he said. “On our way out we saw several injured people, so we understood that something serious had happened.”
Desta G. Selassie, a co-owner of the London Pub, told AP that employees who witnessed the shooting were in shock and receiving psychological counseling.
Police said the suspect had a criminal record that included a narcotics offense and a weapons offense for carrying a knife.
PST said it spoke to him in May this year “because he had shown a certain interest in statements that were interpreted as insults to Islam.”
“In these conversations, it was assessed that he had no intention of violence, but PST is aware that he has had challenges related to mental health,” the agency said in a statement.
Organizers of Oslo Pride canceled the parade and other scheduled events, and encouraged “people all over Norway to show solidarity” in their homes, neighborhoods and on social media instead.
“We’ll be back later, proud, visible, but right now it’s not the time for that,” Inge Alexander Gjestvang, leader of FRI, a Norwegian organization for sexual and gender diversity, told TV2.
Like its Scandinavian neighbors, Norway is considered progressive on LGBTQ rights. There is widespread support for same-sex marriage, which was legalized in 2009. In 2016, Norway became one of the world’s first countries to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without a doctor’s agreement or intervention.
Norway’s King Harald V offered condolences to the relatives of victims and said the royal family was “horrified” by the attack.
“We must stand together to defend our values: freedom, diversity and respect for each other. We must continue to stand up for all people to feel safe,” the monarch said.
World leaders condemned the attack on their way to a Group of Seven summit in Germany. The summit’s host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, tweeted, “The Norwegian people can be sure of our sympathy. The fight against terror unites us.” French President Emmanuel Macron offered his condolences in a tweet in Norwegian.
John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told reporters while flying with U.S. President Joe Biden to the G-7 summit, “Our hearts obviously go out to all the families there of the victims, the people of Norway, which is a tremendous ally, and of course the LGBTQI+ community, there and around the world, quite frankly.”
Norway has a relatively low crime rate but has experienced a series of so-called lone wolf attacks in recent decades, including one of the worst mass shootings in Europe. In 2011, a right-wing extremist killed 69 people on the island of Utoya after setting off a bomb in Oslo that left eight dead.
In 2019, another right-wing extremist killed his stepsister and then opened fire in a mosque but was overpowered before anyone there was injured.
Last year, a Norwegian man armed with knives and a bow and arrow killed five people in a town in southern Norway. The attacker, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was sentenced Friday to compulsory psychiatric care.
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Ritter reported from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Jari Tanner in Helsinki and Sarah Hambro in Oslo contributed to this report.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Whitmer files motion asking state Supreme Court to quickly take up lawsuit over abortion rights
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Friday filed a motion asking for the state’s high court to quickly take up her lawsuit, which aims to stop a decades-old abortion ban from being enforced and considers abortion a constitutional right in the state.
“We need to clarify that under Michigan law, access to abortion is not only legal, but constitutionally protected. The urgency of the moment is clear—the Michigan court must act now,” Whitmer said in a statement.
“With today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision, Michigan’s extreme 1931 law banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing doctors and nurses who provide reproductive care is poised to take effect,” she added. “If the 1931 law goes into effect, it will punish women and strip away their right to make decisions about their own bodies.”
Whitmer’s remarks came after the federal Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling gives states the authority to determine abortion rights, creating a patchwork of different rules across the country.
Michigan has a 1931 law on the books that outlaws the medical procedure in the state unless “necessary to preserve the life of” the patient; the Michigan Court of Claims last month issued a preliminary injunction against that law after a doctor and Planned Parenthood of Michigan filed a legal challenge against it, Michigan Radio reported.
Whitmer on Saturday reiterated that abortions are still legal in the state.
“Because of a temporary injunction, abortion is still legal in Michigan,” she tweeted.
The Supreme Court’s decision is already having far-reaching consequences for a handful of states that have immediately banned abortions, or have caused uncertainty in states like Wisconsin over old laws that had previously been unenforced amid Roe v. Wade.
Source: TEST FEED1