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Energy & Environment — Judge permanently blocks Biden's oil lease pause

A federal judge blocks an executive order on oil leasing in 13 states, the EPA has its eye on restoring certain chemical safety regulations, and the Energy Department projects that Democrats’ climate bill will bring U.S. emissions 40 percent lower than they were in 2005 in 2030.

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. 

Let’s jump in.

Oil leasing moratorium permanently blocked in court

n against the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters Thursday night, a day after another court tossed an earlier injunction against it.

In the Thursday ruling, Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana permanently blocked the January 2021 order in 13 states that sued over the order in March of that year.

The states in question are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. It does not apply to any states uninvolved in the lawsuit.

Doughty ruled the order was in violation of the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), saying it took steps reserved for Congress.

“Both statutes require Government Defendants’ agencies to sell oil and gas leases. The OCSLA has a Five-Year Plan in effect that requires eligible leases to be sold. Government Defendants’ agencies have no authority to make significant revisions in the OCSLA Five-Year Plan without going through the procedure mandated by Congress,” Doughty, a Trump appointee, wrote. 

“The MLA requires the DOI [Interior Department] to hold lease sales, where eligible lands are available at lease quarterly. By stopping the process, the agencies are in effect amending two Congressional statutes. Neither the OCSLA nor the MLA gives the Government Defendants’ agencies the authority to implement a Stop of lease sales,” he added.

The decision comes one day after a higher court tossed a previous order of his that temporarily blocked Biden’s moratorium nationwide while he weighed the merits of the case.

Biden’s order barred new oil and gas leasing on federally-owned lands, as well as offshore. It did not impact neither existing oil and gas production nor future production on private lands.

Read more about Doughty’s decision here.

BIDEN PROPOSES RESTORING CHEMICAL SAFETY REGULATIONS

The Biden administration is proposing to restore chemical safety regulations that were loosened under the Trump administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prosed to reimpose certain safety requirements that apply to facilities including agricultural supply distributors, chemical manufacturers and distributors, food and beverage manufacturers and oil refineries.

The specifics: In 2019, the Trump administration got rid of requirements to assess potentially safer technologies and processes that may limit hazards. It also eliminated requirements to conduct “root cause” analyses after accidents, hire third parties to audit the facilities after accidents and provide the public with information about chemical hazards upon request.

These requirements were imposed under the Obama administration after a 2013 explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas killed 15 people.

In restoring these requirements, EPA Administrator Michael Regan argued that they will protect the health and safety of people who live near such industrial facilities.

Former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who worked under former President Trump, had argued that doing away with the requirements eliminated burdens on companies and addressed homeland security concerns.

Read more about the proposal here.

DOE: DEM BILL COULD CUT US EMISSIONS TO 40% OF 2005 LEVEL

A new preliminary assessment released Thursday by the Energy Department has found that the Democrat’s climate, tax and healthcare bill will help bring the country’s emissions down to 40 percent below 2005 levels in 2030.

This is in line with a projection from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). It’s also relatively close to projections from three other recent models which collectively find that the U.S. emissions could be between 32 and 42 percent of where they were in 2005 in 2030.

The DOE estimate finds major cuts in the power sector, largely due to tax credits for carbon-free energy generation and storage. It also finds cuts from manufacturing, homes and commercial buildings, transportation and agriculture and forestry.

The findings still put the U.S. shy of President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions at least in half by 2030. But, they do bring the country closer to reaching it.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• She Didn’t Know She Still Owed Money to Her Utility. Then 25% of Her Paycheck Was Gone. (ProPublica and Outlier Media)
• ‘Severe’ drought designation expanded in NY and parts of northern NJ (Gothamist)
• The TVA is dumping a mountain of coal ash in Black south Memphis (The Washington Post)
• Extreme heat is slamming the world’s three biggest economies all at once (CNN)
• Federal judge shoots down Michigan’s ‘unfair’ bid to move Line 5 lawsuit to state court (The Detroit News)

ICYMI

• 92 lawmakers ask EPA to reconsider decreased herbicide allowances
• Biden administration announces $310M in funding for water reuse projects amid widespread drought

📸 Lighter click: Take a picture, it’ll last longer.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Monday.  

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

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Health Care — Michigan judge blocks abortion ban enforcement

In case you need to be reminded, Martin Short is still one of the funniest comedians around. The man managed to fit a hundred jokes into five minutes of airtime and even The Fonz approves. 

Today in health care, abortion will remain legal in Michigan for the foreseeable future after a key court ruling. 

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Peter Sullivan, Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Judge stops enforcement of abortion ban 

A Michigan judge Friday blocked county prosecutors from enforcing a 91-year-old law banning abortion in the state while courts consider a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law. 

The takeaway: The ruling means abortion will remain legal in Michigan for the foreseeable future. The 1931 law bans abortion for all women, doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest and calls for the prosecution of reproductive care providers.   

The ruling comes after the state Court of Appeals earlier this month cleared a path for county prosecutors to enforce the 1931 law by ruling they were not covered by a May order. 

• “It is clear to the Court that only one group is harmed by this statute- women and people capable of carrying children,” Oakland County Judge Jacob Cunningham said during his ruling.   
• The 1931 abortion ban doesn’t pass constitutional muster, he said. 

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) requested the temporary restraining order to block prosecutors from enforcing the law, which was triggered when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wadedecisionin June. 

Stay tuned: Voters could ultimately decide the fate of abortion in Michigan through a ballot initiative seeking to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution. 

Read more here.  

Bill would make gender-affirming care a felony

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a bill Friday that would make providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender minors a felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. 

The measure would prohibit using federal funds for gender-affirming health care, including in Affordable Healthcare Act plans. 

• “When it comes to ‘gender-affirming care,’ which is really child abuse, this is actually an assault and it’s child abuse,” Greene said Thursday evening during an appearance on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” 
• “This practice should never happen,” Greene told host Tucker Carlson. “It’s so disgusting and appalling … this needs to be illegal.” 

What it does: Greene’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” outlaws more than a dozen medical interventions and procedures used to treat gender dysphoria in transgender young people, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and certain kinds of surgeries done “for the purpose of changing the body of such individual to correspond to a sex that differs from their biological sex.” 

Under Greene’s bill, anyone who “knowingly performs any gender-affirming care on a minor” is guilty of a class C felony, carrying a punishment of 10 to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, Greene’s office said. 

Read more here. 

ALMOST HALF OF FATAL CANCER CASES LINKED TO AVOIDABLE FACTORS 

Almost half of all cancers that lead to death can be attributed to risk factors that are avoidable, a new study found, with researchers advising that governments invest in supporting environments that minimize exposure to certain cancer risk factors. 

The study, which looked at cancer cases from 2019 and was published in The Lancet, found that 44 percent of cancer deaths were what researchers referred to as risk-attributable cancer deaths, meaning cancers that could be linked to higher exposure to certain risk factors for the disease. 

The findings: 

• On a global scale, the leading risk factors were smoking, alcohol and high BMI in descending order. These risk factors were the same for both male and female patients. 
• The same study found that 42 percent of cancer-related disability-adjusted life-years — the number of years lost to living not at full health or with a disability — could be attributed to risk factors. 

Income-dependent shifts: The burden of risk-attributable cancers varied across regions, with smoking, unsafe sex and alcohol being the leading risk factors in lower-income, socially disadvantaged countries. Higher-income countries tended to reflect the global risk factors, according to researchers. 

“Although some cancer cases are not preventable, governments can work on a population level to support an environment that minimises exposure to known cancer risk factors,” researchers said. 

Read more here. 

HONG KONG REOPENS COVID-19 ISOLATION FACILITY AS CASES SPIKE 

Hong Kong plans to reopen one of its largest COVID-19 isolation facilities amid climbing case numbers that stand at a four-month high. 

“We are very concerned,” Lau Ka-hin, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief manager of quality and standards, said of the rate of cases, according to Bloomberg. “We’ve come to a very key moment and we are worried that the situation may deteriorate further.” 

The situation: Hong Kong reported 6,445 new cases on Friday, 1,898 of which are being treated in hospitals, putting pressure on the country’s hospital system. 

Of the almost 2,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, 25 have serious cases of the virus while an additional 36 are in critical condition and 10 are in intensive care. 

• Lau said at a Friday briefing that an isolation facility will open up next week, providing 200 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and employing 100 health care workers.
• He added that some services will be reduced at Hong Kong hospitals, specifically minor nonemergency services. 

Read more here. 

DC schools relaxing COVID-19 protocols 

The Washington, D.C., public school system announced Thursday evening during a town hall that it would relax COVID-19 measures ahead of the 2022-23 school year. 

Dropped guidelines: D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) announced that it will no longer be conducting daily health screenings on students upon arrival to school. However, DCPS is asking parents to screen their children for COVID-19 symptoms every day before sending them to the classroom. 

• The district will also no longer require students and staff to quarantine following a COVID-19 exposure — unless they are exhibiting symptoms, which is DCPS’s biggest change from last school year’s guidance. The latest guidance has been updated in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations. 
• Asymptomatic weekly testing from the prior school year will now be discontinued at schools, except for at the start of the school year when “test to return” will be conducted. 

What’s still required: Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will still be required to isolate for five days, and parents will receive a notice in writing or in an email if someone in the child’s class tests positive. 

Masks will remain optional in the classrooms, though students who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be required to wear a mask until day 10 following their positive test after the end of their five-day isolation period. 

Read more here. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Abortion is shaking up attorneys general races and exposing limits to their powers (Kaiser Health News) 
• Birth control coverage gaps scrutinized as reproductive health landscape shifts (Politico) 
• Vance’s anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma (AP) 
• ‘A poster child’ for diversity in science: Black engineers work to fix long-ignored bias in oxygen readings (Stat)  

STATE BY STATE

• 16 more states hope to weigh in on Idaho abortion lawsuit (AP) 
• Nebraska brain-eating amoeba death confirmed by Centers for Disease Control (KPTM) 
• Less than 60% of kids are vaccinated against polio in some NYC neighborhoods (ABC News) 

THE HILL OP-EDS

• Monkeypox may be on its way to a school near you 
• Monkeypox, Marburg and miserable heat: How the world should respond to intersecting crises 
• Murray’s drug bill includes a poison pill for prescription imports 
• Telemedicine abortion? It’s not as easy as it sounds 
• We’ve put America’s children last — and it shows 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Health Care page for the latest news and coverage. See you next week.

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

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New estimate projects cost of raising a child at $310K

New figures show the cost of raising a child is becoming more expensive as the nation grapples with rising inflation.

A recent estimate conducted by the Brookings Institution projected the cost of raising a child for a middle-income, two-parent married family with two kids to be north of $310,000.  

The estimate assumes the youngest child would be born in 2015 and covers raising the child through the age of 17. It does not include the cost of sending the child to college.

Brookings uses a methodology from a previous report on child expenditures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The figure is roughly $80,000 more than the estimate USDA released in 2017, when it calculated the average child-rearing costs for a middle-income, married couple with a child born in the same year.

The estimate was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

To calculate the number, experts used an average inflation rate of 2.23 percent, similar to the rate used in the USDA report, to estimate the total cost from 2015 to 2020. But the new report also factors in a 1.77 percent increase in the rate for 2021 and subsequent years.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, told The Hill the calculation was based on past trends in the nation’s inflation rates.

“I said, what is the most comparable historical period to right now? And it turns out, in my opinion, that it was the late 1970s, when we had double digit inflation,” said Sawhill, who produced the estimate along with Morgan Welch, a senior research assistant for the Center on Children and Families.

Sawhill pointed to the actions taken by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to combat the rising costs that helped spur a recession. 

“We had a big recession in the early 80s, actually two back-to-back recessions, and eventually, the inflation rate got back to normal,” Sawhill said, which she added the Fed considers to be around 2 percent. 

“I looked at all that data, and I estimated that on average over this period, the inflation rate would be 4 percent,” Sawhill said. 

The new estimate only crunches numbers for middle-income, married parents, and doesn’t include projections for single parent households, or consider how race factors into cost challenges. 

But Sawhill said lower-income families are likely to bear a significant burden from the higher costs, calling it “a much more important expense for lower income than for higher income families.”

“Bill Gates is not going to worry about how much it costs to raise a child,” she put plainly, while saying she thinks the sharp rise in costs in recent years show it’s “a greater burden than it used to be to have children.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Hillicon Valley — Lawmakers ask for info on FBI threats 

Democrats in the House are requesting that social media groups hand over information related to threats made against law enforcement officials. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Cyber Command said it recently deployed its “hunt forward” team for the first time in Croatia to help the Balkan country shore up its cyber defenses and networks against active threats. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Dems request info on FBI threats

House Democrats asked social media platforms to turn over information about threats to federal law enforcement officials and how they combat the violent posts, according to letters sent to eight companies Friday. 

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) demanded Meta, Twitter, TikTok, Truth Social, Rumble, Gettr, Telegram and Gab respond with details about their policies and data on the threats. 

• The request comes after researchers have identified an uptick in violent posts targeting FBI agents since the search at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.  
• In the letter, the Democrats cited incendiary posts from their GOP colleagues that have accused the Department of Justice of being “weaponized” against Trump and called to “defund” the FBI. 

Read more here. 

US sent cyber team to Croatia 

The U.S. Cyber Command recently deployed its “hunt forward” team for the first time in Croatia to help the Balkan country shore up its cyber defenses and networks against active threats. 

The team, which is made up of U.S. military and civilian personnel, worked alongside Croatian intelligence and cybersecurity officials to look for malicious cyber activity and vulnerabilities.

“It was an honor to send some of our best defensive operators to Croatia, to hunt for shared threats alongside our partners — we want to bring both expertise and talent to our partner nations, while seeing cyber adversaries who may be threatening our nation,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Hartman, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force.  

The agency often sends the team overseas to assist allies in strengthening their cybersecurity defenses as well as collect information on adversaries’ cyber activities.

Read more here. 

DOT LAUNCHING DELAYED, CANCELED FLIGHT DASHBOARD

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a letter to CEOs in the airline industry on Thursday the Department of Transportation (DOT) will be launching a dashboard to help customers determine what they are owed if a flight is delayed or canceled.  

Buttigieg chastised the airlines for “unacceptable” delays and cancellations Americans have experienced this summer, saying customers “deserve clear and transparent information on the services that your airline will provide, to address the expenses and inconveniences resulting from these disruptions.” 

To help with that process, Buttigieg said the DOT website will launch a dashboard before Labor Day weekend, on Sept. 2, where customers can find information about what each airline carrier offers in the event of a delay or cancellation. 

Read more here.  

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: As Schumer eyes Big Tech, hold onto your wallet 

Notable links from around the web: 

Viral video of a racist rant led people to threaten the wrong business. The owner blames Google. (NBC News / Ben Goggin) 

TikTok Browser Can Track Users’ Keystrokes, According to New Research (The New York Times / Paul Mozur, Ryan Mac and Chang Che) 

Amazon’s health ambitions sometimes clashed with medical best practices, nurses say (The Washington Post / Caroline O’Donovan)

🎶 Lighter click: The mark of a masterpiece  

One more thing: Biden to host summit 

President Biden plans to host a summit in mid-September focused on stamping out the effects of hate-fueled violence in the United States in furtherance of his campaign pledge to unify the country.   

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday that the “United We Stand” summit would be held on Sept. 15 at the White House with the goal of countering “the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.”  

“Even as our nation has endured a disturbing series of hate-fueled attacks, from Oak Creek to Pittsburgh, from El Paso to Poway, from Atlanta to Buffalo, Americans remain overwhelmingly united in their opposition to such violence,” Jean-Pierre said.   

Read more here.  

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Monday.

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Trump to rally support for Oz, Mastriano in Pennsylvania

Former President Trump will be headed back to Pennsylvania in September to hold a rally in support of gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano (R) and Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz (R) several months ahead of the midterms. 

An advisory through Trump’s Save America PAC said Trump would hold a rally with Mastriano and Oz on Sept. 3 in eastern Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The advisory came at the same time that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) held an event organized by Turning Point Action in Pittsburgh in support of Mastriano.

Trump was last in the state to boost his endorsed candidates, including Oz, in May. 

The rally announcement comes amid questions about the viability of a slew of Republican incumbents and candidates running for Senate, some of whom posted lower fundraising hauls than their Democratic counterparts in the last quarter.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who is running against Oz, has produced a viral social media campaign that has sought to depict Oz as a carpetbagger from New Jersey who is out of touch with Pennsylvanians. That effort has included videos using big New Jersey names like former “Jersey Shore” cast member Nicole “Snooki” LaValle and musician ​​Steven Van Zandt.

It has also included fundraising more than half a million dollars off a video made in April which showed Oz going grocery shopping while mispronouncing the name of the grocery store.

Oz’s campaign has sought to show that Fetterman is not authentically engaging with voters on the ground, at one point pushing out a basement tracker on how long the campaign claimed Fetterman was not on the campaign trail in public. 

Meanwhile, Mastriano is considered a controversial Republican gubernatorial candidate who has previously pushed dubious claims about the 2020 election. His candidacy proved contentious enough that a group of Republicans came out in support of his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Shapiro. 

For Mastriano’s part, he’s received the support of all but one House Republican in the state.

Source: TEST FEED1

EU follows US in adopting one-fifth monkeypox vaccine strategy

LONDON (AP) — A smaller dose of the monkeypox vaccine appears to still be effective and can be used to stretch the current supply by five times, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Friday, echoing a recommendation made earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The EU drug regulator said in a statement that injecting people with just one fifth the regular dose of the smallpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic appeared to produce similar levels of antibodies against monkeypox as a full dose.

The approach calls for administering Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine with an injection just under the skin rather than into deeper tissue, a practice that may stimulate a better immune response. People still need to get two doses, about four weeks apart.

The EMA said national authorities could decide, “as a temporary measure” to use smaller doses of the vaccine to protect vulnerable people during the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.

EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the decision would allow the vaccination of five times as many people with the continent’s current supply.

“This ensures greater access to vaccination for citizens at risk and healthcare workers,” she said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the FDA authorized a similar plan to extend the country’s monkeypox vaccine stocks. The technique has previously been used to stretch supplies of vaccines during other outbreaks, including yellow fever and polio.

The unusual recommendations from both regulators acknowledge the extremely limited global supplies of the Jynneos vaccine, originally developed against smallpox. Bavarian Nordic is the only company that makes it and it expects to have about 16 million doses available this year. On Thursday, the U.S. also announced a new agreement with a Michigan manufacturer to help speed production of 5.5 million vaccine vials recently ordered by the government.

The EMA authorized the vaccine in July based on experimental data that suggested it would work; the World Health Organization has estimated the shot is about 85% effective at preventing monkeypox.

Globally, there are more than 40,000 cases of monkeypox, of which about half are in Europe. Earlier this week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there has been a 20% increase in cases reported in the last two weeks and that nearly all infections have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men.

Tedros said WHO was in talks with vaccine manufacturers and countries to see if any might be willing to share doses. Africa has reported the highest number of suspected monkeypox deaths and although the disease has been endemic in parts of central and west Africa for decades, it has only a small supply of vaccines being used as part of a research study.

About 98 percent of monkeypox cases beyond Africa have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men. WHO said there is no sign of sustained transmission beyond men who have sex with men, although a small number of women and children have also been sickened by the disease.

Monkeypox spreads when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, their clothing or bedsheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and more severe cases can result in complications including brain inflammation and death.

In the U.K., which at one point had the biggest outbreak outside Africa, officials said earlier this week they have seen signs the outbreak is slowing down.

Source: TEST FEED1

Lack of ‘high quality’ clinical guidelines for monkeypox may be hurting treatment efforts, researchers say 

A lack of up-to-date clinical guidelines on monkeypox may be impacting health care workers’ ability to administer effective and safe treatment in those infected, according to researchers.  

U.K.-based researchers looked at the existing clinical guidelines available for the disease and found that they often lack sufficient detail, are contradictory in their recommendations and fail to include impacts of the illness on different groups including children.  

The findings of the analysis were published earlier this week in the journal BMI Global Health.  

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Monkeypox is a viral disease that belongs to the same family as smallpox that can show up as a rash made up of small and painful blisters. Symptoms of the illness can also include fever, chills, fatigue, muscle aches, cough, neck pain and swollen lymph nodes.  

There has been an outbreak of the rare disease this summer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirming 14,115 cases of the virus across the country as of Thursday.  

Before the 2022 outbreak, the disease had been mainly reported in people living in about a dozen central and western African countries, according to the CDC.  

Now, a worldwide jump in cases has prompted the World Health Organization to declare the spike a public health emergency.  

In their analysis, researchers parsed through six major research databases with relevant information on monkeypox published up to October of last year and other “grey literature” like policy documents, newsletters and reports in multiple languages published until this May. They found a total of 14 relevant clinical guidelines, most of which were “low quality” and only covered a range of topics.  

Only five out of the 14 clinical guidelines gave any guidance on how to care for children infected with the virus and only three had any advice on how to treat pregnant women or people living with HIV who had contracted the disease, according to the analysis findings.  

Monkeypox treatment guidance was mostly limited to advice on antiviral medication and was not consistent, researchers added. Out of the guidelines reviewed, seven recommended that patients with monkeypox be given cidofovir, and out of those seven only four noted that the medication be only administered to treat severe infections.  

Only four clinical guidelines recommended tecovirimat and one advised giving the sick brincidofovir.  

Currently, the WHO recommends that health care professionals use tecovirimat to treat monkeypox patients instead of cidofovir.  

None of the clinical guidelines reviewed contained details on optimal doses, timing or length of treatment and only one had any recommendations on supportive care and treatment complications, according to the findings.  

Every one of the 14 guidelines encouraged vaccination as post-exposure prophylaxis but not all of them had up to date information on the newer generation of vaccines.  

Guidelines are key tools for clinicians and are especially important for emerging infectious diseases that health care workers might be less familiar with, according to Louise Sigfrid, who works at the ISARIC Global Support Center, Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford and is one of the lead researchers in the analysis.  

Sigfrid noted that some of her colleagues in London that treated monkeypox patients early in the U.K.’s outbreak this spring reported struggling to know how to diagnose and treat patients due to limited guidelines.  

“The main aim of the clinical national guidelines is to benefit patient care,” Sigfrid told Changing America. “It’s also to standardize care. To make sure that all patients in all settings have access to evidence-based care and that clinicians have access to evidence-based treatments.”  

Standardizing clinical guidelines also serves an important purpose when it comes to developing vaccines for diseases like monkeypox, Sigfrid added. Without them, clinical research for treatments can be weakened and hamper randomized control trials.  

“As rare diseases are emerging…what we have also seen when we are trying to implement rapidly is that clinicians in different sites will use different treatments,” said Sigfrid.  

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Source: TEST FEED1

Five things to know about Weisselberg’s guilty plea

Thursday’s guilty plea from former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg is a major development in New York officials’ multiyear investigation into the company led by former President Trump. 

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 separate charges including grand larceny and criminal tax fraud in an indictment filed in New York state Supreme Court, admitting to what authorities described as a 15-year tax evasion scheme for skipping out on taxes due on $1.76 million in income that wasn’t reported to the IRS. 

Weisselberg was promised a sentence of five months in New York City’s Rikers Island prison — although that could be shortened to a little over three months — as well as five years’ probation. He will also have to make full repayment of taxes, penalties and interest due to the New York City and New York state tax authorities totaling $1,994,321.

Here are five things to know about Weisselberg’s plea deal.  

The plea may be a consolation prize 

The plea deal from a Trump Organization representative close to the former president may feel like something of a consolation prize for prosecutors who have been trying for a year to get Weisselberg to turn on Trump himself and not just Trump’s company. 

Their aim has been to find evidence that the former president engaged in criminal activity, and securing the cooperation of a key Trump lieutenant like Weisselberg for their investigation could have been a step in that direction. 

“It’s been widely publicly reported that the DA’s office was aggressively trying to flip Weisselberg against individuals and against Trump in particular, and he obviously held out on that and refused to deliver,” Danya Perry, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, told The Hill in an interview. 

But Weisselberg didn’t roll over. In fact, The New York Times reported that just after the deal was made, The Trump Organization held a birthday party for Weisselberg at Trump Tower. 

Legal experts draw a sharp distinction between the sort of plea deal that Weisselberg agreed to and an actual cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors that could have led to much more substantive disclosures about the former president and his business practices. 

“He got a plea deal. He did not get a cooperation agreement,” Perry said. 

Legal experts say that the plea deal may actually be a step away from prosecuting Trump. 

“The case against Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have any life left in it,” Daniel Alonso, who served as chief assistant district attorney under former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., told The Hill. “This deal certainly doesn’t mean Trump is going to be prosecuted. It probably means the opposite. It really doesn’t incriminate him.” 

The plea deal will factor into the trial of the Trump Organization 

Weisselberg’s plea deal requires him to testify when the Trump Organization faces its own trial in October, and that could turn into a big win for prosecutors this fall as they go after Trump’s core business. 

The Trump Organization is going on trial for nine out of the 15 counts that were brought against Weisselberg himself, which include charges of criminal tax fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records.  

The testimony of Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, could make things difficult for the company.  

“It’s going to make that defense very, very complicated for the Trump Organization,” Perry said. 

Former assistant United States Attorney Andrew Weissman told The Hill in an interview that Weisselberg’s plea deal is going to make it much harder for the Trump Organization to make its defense. 

“Because an organization acts through its people, this is the CFO saying that he did this, and these are not crimes that are unrelated to the organization, and the organization benefited directly from this,” he said. 

There’s a big open question about Weisselberg’s deal with prosecutors 

Legal experts say there’s one big unanswered question about Weisselberg’s deal.  

What happens if prosecutors decide that he didn’t “testify truthfully” in the upcoming Trump Organization trial, as his plea deal requires him to do? 

“The Court promised Weisselberg a sentence of five months in jail to be served on Rikers Island and five years’ probation, contingent on Weisselberg testifying truthfully in the upcoming criminal trial of the Trump Organization by providing truthful testimony as to the facts underlying his allocution and plea,” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a Thursday statement. 

But if they ask him questions about how much Trump knew during the trial, and Weisselberg says he didn’t know anything, prosecutors might then say he’s not being fully truthful, and then all bets about the sentencing could be off. 

“This is the one open question,” Alonso said. “What happens if he testifies that Trump had no knowledge of these schemes? Would the DA still vouch for Weisselberg’s truthfulness?” 

Experts say the in-between nature of the plea deal, which is not a cooperation agreement but does compel testimony, makes it kind of an oddity. 

“I’ve never heard of a deal like this,” Alonso said. 

Weisselberg was not granted immunity from other crimes  

Proper cooperation deals with federal prosecutors usually come with an immunity clause that says cooperating witnesses won’t be charged on other unrelated crimes. Weisselberg’s deal has no such clause. 

Both Andrew Weissmann and Danya Perry said they were interested by the fact that Weisselberg was not granted full immunity for any other potential crimes.  

“Typically, lawyers negotiate for coverage or immunity for any other crimes he might have committed so they can’t keep coming back,” Perry said. “Here, they didn’t do that.” 

Daniel Alonso also said he found this surprising, but said it makes sense given the limited nature of Weisselberg’s deal. 

“Why should the DA grant him that if he’s not cooperating fully? This is not a traditional cooperation agreement. If he’s doing less, then he’s getting less.” 

There’s a legal full court press now against Trump 

Most presidents leave office and fade into the background of American political life. But Weisselberg’s plea deal is just one of several legal events involving the former president that have kept his name in the news. 

The most dramatic of these was the Aug. 8 FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, which saw federal agents walk away from Trump’s Florida property with boxes of classified documents. 

An unsealed search warrant revealed that the FBI is investigating Trump for three possible federal crimes, including concealing records “with the intent to impede, obstruct or influence” government activity, and possible violations of the Espionage Act. 

There is also an ongoing investigation into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, as well as a civil investigation of Trump being conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Jared Gans contributed.

Source: TEST FEED1

Why we shouldn’t expect a Biden primary challenge or voluntary drop-out

Even with his recent string of successes, Democratic candidates and commentators are piling on the idea that the low polling numbers and concerns about his age will lead to President Joe Biden either not running for reelection or facing a serious primary challenge. This may seem unusual, but discussion of a candidate bowing out or facing a primary is par for the course for any sitting president.

But anyone counting on a primary challenge or a voluntary single term will likely be sorely disappointed. Presidential primary challenges are a constant source of discussion but rarely materialize. And, perhaps surprisingly, in recent years the Democratic Party has been remarkably unified at shooting down primary challengers for other high-ranking positions.

Calls for a primary challenge or a voluntary one-term usually occur right when a party is suffering a downturn in the polls and the economy, especially if they are facing a daunting midterm fight. Even the most popular recent presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, heard calls that they would face serious challenges or, in the case of Reagan, step aside for a better, more vigorous, contender. Obviously, these were all ignored by the presidents, who went to score resounding victories two years later.

But warding off these primary challenges is key to a reelection run. Presidents have a great track record of winning reelection, but that radically changes if they face an intra-party contest. Starting with the first contested primary in 1912, when President William Howard Taft beat back former President Theodore Roosevelt’s insurgent primary run, all presidents who have had to beat back a perceived real fight have either retired or lost. We saw this with Harry Truman, who was embarrassed by Sen. Estes Kefauver’s strong showing in New Hampshire in 1952; Lyndon Johnson in 1968, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992.

It is worth considering that it has been 30 years since any notable primary contest has taken place, as both parties and any primary challenger should be aware of this track record and the fact that among challengers, only one (Ronald Reagan in 1976, who barely lost his nomination challenge to the unelected Gerald Ford) went on to later success. All the other challengers never received their party’s nomination for the presidency.

For Democrats, who have a reputation as a divided party, the painful losses in 1968 and 1980 may have proven a strong object lesson. Not only has the party avoided any presidential primary fights, they have also been remarkably successful in backing incumbents in Senate and Governor contests. In the 21^st Century, only one incumbent Senator lost a primary, and that one, Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter in 2010, was a long-time Republican who flipped parties the year before. It was the first time Specter ever tried to run as a Democrat. For Governor, only Hawaii’s Neil Abercrombie in 2014 lost a primary.

Due to his age, there are many who are looking to see Biden voluntarily step aside. This is a real question, especially if Biden faces a serious health setback. But despite the polls, voters are becoming increasingly comfortable with older presidents. While Biden is the oldest president, the second- (Trump), third- (Reagan) and sixth-oldest (George H.W. Bush) on the list of oldest presidents at their election all served in the last 40 years. More to the point, the expectation that Biden will remove himself seems to ignore presidential behavior. Biden had been actively pursuing the presidency for over 35 years. It beggars belief that some poor polling numbers are going to put an early end to his long goal of serving as president.

Right before a midterm, there is always a fever pitch for a new face in the next election. Biden is no exception. His advanced age gives the discussion a new wrinkle and also allows for calls for him to step aside for other reasons. But observers should not be fooled. Both political parties are well aware of the devastating repercussions of a primary contest. No matter what candidates are saying now, every step will be taken to avoid it.

Joshua Spivak is the author of “Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom.” He is a senior fellow at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College and a senior research fellow at the Berkeley Law’s California Constitution Center. He also writes the Recall Elections Blog.

Source: TEST FEED1

Buttigieg announces DOT dashboard for delayed, canceled flights

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a letter to CEOs in the airline industry on Thursday the Department of Transportation (DOT) will be launching a dashboard to help customers determine what they are owed if a flight is delayed or canceled. 

Buttigieg chastised the airlines for “unacceptable” delays and cancellations Americans have experienced this summer, saying customers “deserve clear and transparent information on the services that your airline will provide, to address the expenses and inconveniences resulting from these disruptions.”

To help with that process, Buttigieg said the DOT website will launch a dashboard before Labor Day weekend, on Sept. 2, where customers can find information about what each airline carrier offers in the event of a delay or cancellation. 

“The Department is creating an interactive dashboard that provides air travelers with a single venue where they can locate easy-to-read, comparative summary information on the services or amenities that each of the large U.S. airlines provide when the cause of a cancelation or delay was due to circumstances within the airline’s control,” Buttigieg told the CEOs. 

The information will be based off the airlines’ customer service plans. Buttigieg told the CEOs they should “take this opportunity to assess your Customer Service Plan to ensure that it guarantees adequate amenities and services to help passengers with expenses and inconveniences due to delays and cancelations.”

The DOT wants airlines to give meal vouchers for delays of more than three hours and lodging for delays that force a customer to remain at an airport overnight. 

Refunds are always required for cancellations, but accommodations for delays get tricky when the delay is outside an airline’s control with issues such as weather and crew illness. 

Buttigieg said that in the first six months of 2022, 24 percent of domestic flights were delayed and 3.2 percent were canceled. 

He also reiterated the department is getting public comment for a proposed rule to make refunds for cancellations or delays more clear and debating expanding airline passengers’ rights when they experience delays or cancellations.

Source: TEST FEED1