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Apple joins the artificial intelligence race with new Apple Intelligence None - Apple has announced the launch of its new Apple Intelligence, an artificial intelligence software that incorporates ChatGPT and will soon be available on iPhones and Macbooks.June 10, 2024

'Play to the heartstrings': What to expect in closing arguments of Hunter Biden's gun trial None - 'Play to the heartstrings': What to expect in closing arguments of Hunter Biden's gun trial Hunter Biden’s lawyer indicated that he will not testify in his gun trial. Criminal defense attorney Jeremy Saland and former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Catherine Christian join Ana Cabrera to share their legal analysis of the testimonies and what to expect in the closing arguments.June 10, 2024

In Wyoming, Bill Gates moves ahead with nuclear project aimed at revolutionizing power generation None - Bill Gates and his energy company are starting construction at their Wyoming site for a next-generation nuclear power plant he believes will “revolutionize” how power is generated Bill Gates and his energy company are starting construction at their Wyoming site for a next-generation nuclear power plant he believes will “revolutionize” how power is generated. Gates was in the tiny community of Kemmerer Monday to break ground on the project. The co-founder of Microsoft is chairman of TerraPower. The company applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March for a construction permit for an advanced nuclear reactor that uses sodium, not water, for cooling. If approved, it would operate as a commercial nuclear power plant. The site is adjacent to PacifiCorp’s Naughton Power Plant, which will stop burning coal in 2026 and natural gas a decade later, the utility said. Nuclear reactors operate without emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. PacifiCorp plans to get carbon-free power from the reactor and says it is weighing how much nuclear to include in its long-range planning. The work begun Monday is aimed at having the site ready so TerraPower can build the reactor as quickly as possible if its permit is approved. Russia is at the forefront for developing sodium-cooled reactors. Gates told the audience at the groundbreaking that they were “standing on what will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future.” “This is a big step toward safe, abundant, zero-carbon energy,” Gates said. “And it’s important for the future of this country that projects like this succeed.” Advanced reactors typically use a coolant other than water and operate at lower pressures and higher temperatures. Such technology has been around for decades, but the United States has continued to build large, conventional water-cooled reactors as commercial power plants. The Wyoming project is the first time in about four decades that a company has tried to get an advanced reactor up and running as a commercial power plant in the United States, according to the NRC. It’s time to move to advanced nuclear technology that uses the latest computer modeling and physics for a simpler plant design that’s cheaper, even safer and more efficient, said Chris Levesque, the company’s president and chief executive officer. TerraPower's Natrium reactor demonstration project is a sodium-cooled fast reactor design with a molten salt energy storage system. “The industry’s character hasn’t been to innovate. It’s kind of been to repeat past performance, you know, not to move forward with new technology. And that was good for reliability,” Levesque said in an interview. “But the electricity demands we’re seeing in the coming decades, and also to correct the cost issues with today’s nuclear and nuclear energy, we at TerraPower and our founders really felt it’s time to innovate.” A Georgia utility just finished the first two scratch-built American reactors in a generation at a cost of nearly $35 billion. The price tag for the expansion of Plant Vogtle from two of the traditional large reactors to four includes $11 billion in cost overruns. The TerraPower project is expected to cost up to $4 billion, half of it from the U.S. Department of Energy. Levesque said that figure includes first-of-its-kind costs for designing and licensing the reactor, so future ones would cost significantly less. Most advanced nuclear reactors under development in the U.S. rely on a type of fuel — known as high-assay low-enriched uranium — that's enriched to a higher percentage of the isotope uranium-235 than the fuel used by conventional reactors. TerraPower delayed its launch date in Wyoming by two years to 2030 because Russia is the only commercial supplier of the fuel, and it’s working with other companies to develop alternate supplies. The U.S. Energy Department is working on developing it domestically. Edwin Lyman co-authored an article in Science on Thursday that raises concerns that this fuel could be used for nuclear weapons. Lyman, the director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the risk posed by HALEU today is small because there isn’t that much of it around the world. But that will change if advanced reactor projects, which require much larger quantities, move forward, he added. Lyman said he wants to raise awareness of the danger in the hope that the international community will strengthen security around the fuel. NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell said the agency is confident its current requirements will maintain both security and public safety of any reactors that are built and their fuel. Gates co-founded TerraPower in 2008 as a way for the private sector to propel advanced nuclear energy forward to provide safe, abundant, carbon-free energy. The company's 345-megawatt reactor could generate up to 500 megawatts at its peak, enough for up to 400,000 homes. TerraPower said its first few reactors will focus on supplying electricity. But it envisions future reactors could be built near industrial plants to supply high heat. Nearly all industrial processes requiring high heat currently get it from burning fossil fuels. Heat from advanced reactors could be used to produce hydrogen, petrochemicals, ammonia and fertilizer, said John Kotek at the Nuclear Energy Institute. It’s significant that Gates, a technological innovator and climate champion, is betting on nuclear power to help address the climate crisis, added Kotek, the industry group’s senior vice president for policy. “I think this has helped open people’s eyes to the role that nuclear power does play today and can play in the future in addressing carbon emissions," he said. “There’s tremendous momentum building for new nuclear in the U.S. and the potential use of a far wider range of nuclear energy technology than we’ve seen in decades.” ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Extended power outage that hit Puerto Rico angers and worries many during heat advisories None - Towns in central and southern Puerto Rico are struggling to emerge from a prolonged power outage that has forced authorities in the U.S. territory to activate an emergency response team COAMO, Puerto Rico -- Towns in central and southern Puerto Rico are struggling to emerge from a prolonged power outage that forced authorities in the U.S. territory to activate an emergency response team on Monday and request food distribution to those in need. The outage occurred more than a week ago, leaving tens of thousands of clients without power after a transformer that twice exceeded its useful life collapsed. Officials with Luma Energy, which operates transmission and distribution for Puerto Rico’s power authority, have said repairs could take more than a month. The announcement sparked widespread anger, especially since the outage has disrupted water service and comes amid daily excessive heat warnings, with the Atlantic hurricane season just starting. Some politicians are demanding that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi declare a state of emergency. “The people of Santa Isabel, Coamo and Aibonito cannot endure another day without electricity,” Puerto Rico Sen. Héctor Santiago Torres said on Monday, referring to towns in the Caribbean island’s central and southern regions. “This situation is unsustainable.” More than 40% of Puerto Rico's 3.2 million people live below the poverty level, and not everyone can afford generators or replace costly electric appliances damaged by the outages. “My fridge broke because of the voltage issues, so I had to throw away all the spoiled food,” said Carmen Franco, 68, as she spoke over the roar of generators in the southern town of Coamo, where she joined dozens awaiting a free lunch on Saturday. Officials had transformed a music school into a huge kitchen as people cooked rice and chicken, delivering hundreds of lunches to hard-to-reach areas in the town, where nearly a fifth of the population is over the age of 65. “Clearly, we are not prepared for this,” Coamo Mayor Juan Carlos García Padilla said of the ongoing outages. He told The Associated Press that residents already are struggling with a high cost of living. “They don’t have anything left over to save.” One resident, Carlos Ávila, 51, said he struggled to reach his cardiologist over the weekend to get a prescription sent to the pharmacy because phone lines were down as a result of the power outages: “I’ve been waiting over a week to get my blood pressure prescription refilled.” Chronic power outages have plagued Puerto Rico ever since Hurricane María struck in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm and razed the island’s already fragile grid. But the most recent outage has persisted longer than most. Puerto Rico relies on power plants that use coal, petroleum and natural gas to generate about 97% of the island’s electricity, and efforts to switch to renewable energy are slow-going. In addition, a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances has challenged the net-metering policy, which compensates solar-equipped households for their contributions to the grid, arguing it undermines the independence of energy regulators. Solar advocates warn the challenge could hinder the adoption of rooftop solar and battery systems, especially for low-income communities, jeopardizing the island’s progress towards its renewable energy goals. No ruling on the legal challenge has been issued. Madelyn Vives, a 52-year-old caretaker and mother of two, said the outages hit Puerto Rico’s older population the hardest. Her father, who can't walk, lives in a home that she’s been visiting more often to bring him food. “I try to grab as many lunches as I can to feed my family, but if I get just one, it goes to my father,” she said.

CrowdStrike, KKR rise; Huntington Bancshares, Tesla fall, Monday, 6/10/2024 None - Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes on Monday: CrowdStrike, KKR rise; Huntington Bancshares, Tesla fall The Associated Press By The Associated Press NEW YORK -- Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes on Monday: Tesla Inc., down $3.69 to $173.79. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund will vote against the proposed compensation package for CEO Elon Musk. Southwest Airlines Inc., up $1.95 to $29.70. Elliott Investment Management bought a $1.9 billion stake in the airline and is seeking to force out the CEO. KKR & Co., up $10.96 to $108.95. The investment firm will be added to the S & P 500 index on June 24. Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., up $1.52 to $15.45. Noble Corp. offered $1.6 billion for the offshore drilling company. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., up $25.45 to $374.57. The cloud-based cybersecurity company will join the S & P 500 index as of June 24. SolarEdge Technologies Inc., up 60 cents to $46.89. The photovoltaic products maker said Ronen Faier will step down as chief financial officer. Huntington Bancshares Inc., down 82 cents to $12.58. The Ohio-based bank expects net interest income to decline by as much as 4% in 2024. Occidental Petroleum Corp., up $1.22 to $60.48. Energy stocks rose along with crude oil prices.

FDA and DOJ pledge more cooperation on illegal e-cigarettes ahead of congressional hearing None - Federal health regulators and law enforcement officials are vowing to work more closely to stop sales of illegal electronic cigarettes, including those from China WASHINGTON -- Federal health regulators and law enforcement officials on Monday vowed to work more closely to stop sales of illegal electronic cigarettes, which have grown into a multibillion-dollar business in the U.S. while skirting government oversight. The Food and Drug Administration said it would launch a new task force on this issue with the Department of Justice and several other agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service. The FDA has authorized a handful of e-cigarettes for adult smokers looking for alternatives to traditional cigarettes. The agency has rejected applications for millions of other proposed products. But thousands of unauthorized vaping products continue to flow into the U.S., largely from China. They include major disposable vape brands like Elf Bar, which was the most popular e-cigarette among underage teens last year, according to federal data. The FDA and Justice Department announcement comes two days before a Senate hearing scrutinizing the lack of government enforcement action against makers and sellers of unauthorized e-cigarettes. The multi-agency task force was proposed by outside experts in 2022 as part of a blistering critique of the FDA's tobacco program. The experts channeled longstanding grievances from groups on opposing sides of the vaping issue. Public health groups want the FDA to more aggressively police illegal flavored e-cigarettes that appeal to teenagers. Tobacco companies complain that the FDA is unwilling to approve newer e-cigarettes that might help adults quit smoking. The FDA has sent hundreds of warning letters to vape shops and e-cigarette manufacturers in recent years, calling on them to remove or discontinue their products. But the letters are sometimes ignored. And FDA officials have increasingly noted that they rely on the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against bad actors. Only last year did the FDA announce the first fines against vaping companies for selling unauthorized e-cigarettes. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Supreme Court will take up Meta's bid to end lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal None - The Supreme Court has agreed to consider shutting down a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm Supreme Court will take up Meta's bid to end lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider shutting down a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. The justices agreed to hear Meta's appeal of a lower-court ruling that allowed the class action to go forward. Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016. Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say. The case will be argued in the fall. Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users. Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Stephen Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.

Slovakia public broadcaster employees hold 3-hour walkout over government overhaul plans None - Employees of Slovakia’s public radio and television have staged a three-hour walkout to protest a contentious overhaul of their services BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Employees of Slovakia’s public radio and television broadcaster staged a three-hour walkout on Monday to protest a contentious overhaul of their services, a move that critics say would result in the government taking full control of the media. The coalition government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico approved the measure on April 24, and it’s currently being debated in parliament. The plan has been widely criticized by President Zuzana Čaputová, local journalists, the opposition, international media organizations and the European Union. Director-general Ľuboš Machaj said that he respected the right of the staffers to protest. “Our suggestions (about the plan) haven’t been respected,” Machaj said. The proposed changes would mean the public broadcaster known as RTVS would cease to exist and be replaced by a new organization. The protesters marched through the city to rally in front of the Culture Ministry. They demand that the current RTVS system has to remain in place, and that the broadcaster has the finances to effectively function and its journalists aren’t under attack from politicians and others. The takeover plan was drafted by Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová, who represents the Slovak National Party, an ultranationalist member of the coalition government. She has worked for an internet television outlet known for spreading disinformation. Šimkovičová said that the current broadcaster gives space only to mainstream views and censors the rest. The broadcaster has denied the claim. Under her plan, the new broadcaster — Slovak television and radio, or STVR — will have a director selected by a council whose nine members will be nominated by the Culture Ministry and parliament. The current director has a parliamentary mandate until 2027. Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital in protest rallies organized by the major opposition Progressive Slovakia party and others. The liberal pro-Western party just won the European Parliament election for the second straight time, claiming six seats and defeating Fico’s leftist Smer, or Direction, party that gained five seats, two more than five years ago. Critics worry that Slovakia, under Fico, will abandon the country’s pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Biden's team asks CEOs how to further boost the economy while Trump says business is on his side None - On the campaign trail, President Joe Biden likes to take a hard thwack at corporate America Biden's team asks CEOs how to further boost the economy while Trump says business is on his side WASHINGTON -- On the campaign trail, President Joe Biden likes to take a hard thwack at corporate America. The Democrat tells voters that companies should pay more in taxes and he blames many businesses for fueling higher prices by stoking “greedflation” and “shrinkflation.” But for the past several months, top Biden administration officials have also stepped up their outreach to CEOs and other corporate leaders, asking about what they need. The effort encroaches on business community terrain that former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, considers to be his home turf. Both candidates want to drive home a message to voters going into November that they can work with employers, even if the fiercely divided electorate has left many companies wary of publicly taking sides politically. The Biden team's pitch to business leaders goes something like this: We think the economy is doing well, but we want to hear from you about how we can drive investment. “They know that they’ll always get a hearing,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council. “We’re pragmatists. We solve problems for them.” On Thursday, Trump will present his case before the Business Roundtable, an association of more than 200 CEOs, for why the economy would be better if he returned to the Oval Office. Biden was invited to appear as well, but he will be in Italy for a Group of Seven summit of world leaders. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, himself a former CEO, will stand in and pitch the president's vision to the group. Biden has long sought to balance the interests of businesses and workers, tempering his criticism of companies by noting that as a former senator from Delaware he comes from the “corporate capital of the world.” Trump, for his part, burnished his reputation as a billionaire property developer and has marketed everything from educational courses to steaks and neckties, in addition to having his namesake Trump Media & Technology Group trading on the stock market. Having cut corporate taxes during his term and pledged to slash regulations, Trump has lined up support from Wall Street billionaires such as Stephen Schwarzman, who called him a “vote for change.” The Washington Post reported that Trump has asked oil industry executives to help fund his campaign, given the profits his administration would produce for them, a report that the Trump campaign said was false. Trump has described the U.S. economy as horrible despite the low 4% unemployment rate and rising stock market this year. His argument largely resonates with voters because of the 2022 spike in inflation, which has left many U.S. adults pessimistic about the economy. Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that “business leaders and working families alike are eager for the return of these common-sense policies” such as tax cuts, deregulation and increased oil and natural gas production. Biden’s top aides heard a different view on the economy during their business outreach than what Trump is pushing. Administration officials say the CEOs they’ve met with are generally satisfied by the performance of the stock market and the overall economy, as inflation has eased without the recession that some feared. American business leaders, according to the Biden team, are looking for ways to sustain growth: There are not enough skilled workers to fill available jobs. Government permitting needs to be streamlined. And they generally agree with the administration’s push to renew a corporate tax break for research and development expenses. Multiple Biden administration officials said that corporate leaders also expressed concerns about Trump, even though the White House-CEO discussions have specifically not been about the November elections. The tariff hikes championed by Trump could disrupt relationships with trade partners and hurt corporate revenues. Stocks and bonds could tumble if Trump tries to assert control over politically independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve or undermines the rule of law that has been a bedrock of American capitalism. The increased outreach by Biden's team came at the behest of Zients. The chief of staff gathered six other top officials at a February dinner with the goal of implementing a strategy to speak more with CEOs and their predecessors. Each official agreed to talk to 10 CEOs. By the end of April, group members had chatted with more than 100. The outreach led to Biden meeting with eight CEOs in May, including the heads of United Airlines, Marriott, Xerox, Corning and Citigroup. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said he walked away from the conversations more fully aware of how issues overlapped. The administration's renewable energy policies were essential to build out the data centers used for artificial intelligence, for example. Adeyemo said the administration has had some success in reducing the federal paperwork needed for permitting, bringing down processing times that could drag out for two years. And with some workforce programs losing funding that was tied to pandemic-era federal aid, the administration is seeing if companies can take over the financing. There is a big-picture argument being made by the administration that its plans are better for overall growth, which in the long run is good for profits. “One of the things we don’t do is pretend we’re going to agree with the business community on everything,” Adeyemo said. “We want feedback and we’re going to continue to talk to you." At the Biden meeting, people familiar with the conversations said that Brendan Bechtel, CEO of the Bechtel Group, a leading construction company, stressed the shortage of skilled workers. Because companies can't hire everyone they need, some are having to forgo business in ways that limit their revenues. Labor Department figures show there are roughly 1.5 million more job openings right now than unemployed people seeking work. And as job openings have gone unfilled over the past year due to a lack of workers, companies have pulled back on their postings. Manufacturing companies, for example, have 516,000 jobs open, compared to 647,000 a year ago. The shortage reflects both the strong job market as well as decades of education policies that favored universities, often neglecting the need for tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers and welders. The percentage of men aged 25-54 in the labor force has fallen for decades and reversing that trend could bring millions back into the job market. “In the U.S., we got into a college-for-all mentality and other forms of skill development were demoted,” said Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University economist. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has made it a priority to bring more women into construction and the success of her department's funding of efforts to revive the domestic manufacturing of computer chips could depend on having a large pool of trained workers. She said that solving the problem depends on greater partnerships with the companies doing the hiring. “You need to start with the employers — which might sound not intuitive," Raimondo said. "You go to the company and figure out who they’re going to hire at what wages and what skills.” Raimondo saw the issue in economic terms, as growth would be slower if companies lack skilled workers. But she also views it as a cultural and political issue. Voters need to feel optimistic that they have paths into the middle class, one of the promises that Biden made as he seeks a second term. “People start to lose hope when they feel there is no place for them in the economy,” Raimondo said.

Is there asbestos in your makeup? Why women with cancer are suing big beauty brands None - Mention asbestos and disease, and most people’s thoughts turn to old, unstable floor tiles or insulation in homes or offices, or jobs in shipbuilding or construction – the kind of heavy industries that employ men in hi-vis jackets and hard hats. One place we don’t tend to think of it is in the beauty industry; rarely do we consider nude eye-shadow palettes or peachy pink blushers as health hazards. Yet scores of British women are taking leading cosmetic companies to court in the United States, claiming that they contracted mesothelioma – a particularly nasty, treatable, but incurable cancer of the lining of the lung, heart or stomach – through their use of beauty products. The ingredient they hold responsible is talcum powder, which is ubiquitous in makeup. You’ll find it in bronzer, blusher, eye shadow, foundation, mascara, lipstick and even dry shampoo, because it does an excellent job in absorbing moisture and preventing caking. Talc is a mineral that is mined from underground clay deposits – but it can also often have veins of asbestos present in it. Almost all of the big brands use talc in their cosmetics, and they reject any suggestion that they may be tainted. The Estée Lauder Companies group, which includes Clinique and Bobbi Brown as well as Estée Lauder itself, said: “We only use talc that is tested and certified as asbestos free. Additionally, all our ingredients undergo a comprehensive safety review and evaluation, and our products are safe for their intended use.” Certainly, the majority of people who have been using these products for years haven’t developed mesothelioma, partly because asbestos isn’t distributed equally in talc (which makes it especially hard to test for), but also because we’ve been fortunate that asbestos fibres haven’t lodged in our pleura (which lines our lungs) or peritoneum (the membrane lining the abdomen). Hannah Fletcher wasn’t so lucky. In 2016, she was working for British Airways in a high-flying communications job. She started feeling exceptionally tired and began suffering from stomach pains. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos, and was told that she likely had a year to live. She was 42 and had two children, aged four and 10. Fortunately, she has outlasted that prognosis. In the years since, Fletcher has had almost every treatment imaginable: in a 12-hour operation, her spleen, gall bladder and appendix were removed, along with her womb; she has had immunotherapy and chemotherapy; and recently had a clot on the lung. It wasn’t until every other potential source of exposure had been ruled out that her solicitor sent a tissue sample from her peritoneum for a biopsy. She came back with an extraordinary finding: it contained fibres of asbestos in talc. The culprits were her mother’s loose face powder, makeup and talc (which Fletcher had played with as a child), and her own later use of foundation and eye shadow. With the help of her solicitor, Harminder Bains of Leigh Day, she took legal action in the US – partly because this is where most of the big cosmetic brands are based, but also because it’s difficult to claim compensation for mesothelioma in the UK unless it’s been caused by your employment. She sued. “I wanted justice and to raise awareness,” she says. “Some of the things I’ve had to do as a mother, like write letters to my children before the operation because there was a high possibility that I wouldn’t survive. I’ve missed so many family occasions because I’ve just been too ill to attend, and I feel like my children’s childhood was stolen from them.” Fletcher agreed to a substantial financial settlement out of court in May 2023 and her case has opened the door for dozens of other British women with mesothelioma to take legal action in the US against cosmetic companies. Some cases have settled, but many more are going through the courts. Fletcher is one of the few people prepared to talk publicly about her condition and case. She can’t tell me what the settlement was, nor which companies she sued – those were the conditions of the nondisclosure agreements she was required to sign. But it wasn’t difficult to discover that they were Clinique, Estée Lauder and Avon, as there are court documents giving her leave to sue these companies that are in the public domain. Do you wanna wear this makeup if, someday, you might have a disease that could kill you within nine months? Sarah Plant In 2020, Jade Jenkins – another woman from the UK who is suing cosmetics companies in the US – was in her mid-30s when she started having stomach pains that felt like heartburn. A scan revealed peritoneal mesothelioma. “When I was told I had one-to-two years to live, I was shocked and panicked. I wear makeup every day, and to find out that the thing I put on my face which I’ve been buying since I was 12 years old caused this was awful. I felt sick and guilty, and so did my mum because we both wore the makeup and could have exposed each other.” There have been periodic scares about cosmetic talc, but the world’s attention around the issue increased in 2018 with an avalanche of lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson (J&J), alleging that the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products were contaminated by asbestos (though most claimed they had caused ovarian cancer rather than mesothelioma). A Reuters investigation into the company’s internal documents found that J&J had known for decades that asbestos had lurked in its Baby Powder. It is currently facing around 54,000 lawsuits related to talc in Baby Powder, but maintains that its products do not contain asbestos and do not cause cancer. Cancer Research UK says that there’s no good evidence that using talcum powder causes cancer, although again it refers to ovarian cancer, not mesothelioma, and calls for bigger and better studies. The UK’s Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association says that: “Any allegation that talc as used in cosmetic products as sold in the UK is potentially unsafe would be a very serious matter. We believe that there is no basis for such an allegation … All ingredients within cosmetic products must be safe and ingredients are regularly reviewed by independent scientists. If an ingredient were found to be unsafe when used in a cosmetic product, it would be banned.” Its consumer information website notes that: “The two most recent studies investigating whether cosmetic talc could cause mesothelioma … found no causal link.” It is true that studies have found that cosmetic talc is not causally related to the development of mesothelioma. However, one of the main problems with claims about the safety of cosmetic talc is the method used to test it for asbestos. The most sensitive – and therefore most reliable – method is transmission electron microscopy, but the most common method used by the cosmetics industry is X-ray diffraction. This is less sensitive – it can’t detect levels beneath 0.5%, but it allows the industry to claim that its talc contains “no detectable asbestos”. As one peer-reviewed paper documenting the talc industry’s insidious influence over regulation and public health policy observes: “‘No detectable asbestos’ is not the same as ‘asbestos-free’.” View image in fullscreen Fletcher’s settlement opened the door for dozens of other British women to take legal action. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian Its authors, who include British medical anthropologist Tess Bird and David Egilman, an American clinical professor of family medicine and epidemiologist, argue that the very notion of “cosmetic talc” (as distinct from “industrial talc”) is a “marketing construct”: “The TM&MCs [talc mining and manufacturing companies] have long been aware that historical and current tests for asbestos in talc reveal that talc is not and never was asbestos-free … ‘no detectable asbestos’ essentially allowed for asbestos to be present in levels that were undetectable based on the test method.” A 2020 study analysis by geologist and mineralogist Sean Fitzgerald (et al) using transmission electron microscopy found asbestos in three out of 21 powder-based cosmetic products bought in the US. A 2020 paper by pathologist Theresa Emory (et al) examined the cases of 75 people with malignant mesothelioma, whose only known exposure to asbestos was repeated exposure to cosmetic talcum powders, concluding that cosmetic talc may have been a cause. The most significant recent research has been conducted by occupational medicine doctor Jacqueline Moline (et al). Her 2023 paper presented the cases of 166 people with mesothelioma, all of whom had cosmetic talc exposure. A 2020 study by Moline (et al) had described 33 cases of malignant mesothelioma among individuals with no known asbestos exposure other than cosmetic talcum powder. After doctors employed by the talc companies challenged the data in this earlier paper, Moline re-reviewed all the cases, noted that one individual had an additional source of potential asbestos exposure and issued a correction to that effect. Nevertheless, J&J has gone after Moline and Emory, alleging fraudulent research that disparaged its reputation. Last September, Moline asked the court to dismiss the case against her, arguing that it was an attempt to “intimidate” and silence scientific experts. Her lawyers argued that instead of litigation, J&J should publish its own studies and let the scientific community decide (the usual way of settling scientific disagreements). Moline’s motion to dismiss is pending. J&J declined to comment. The lawsuit is only the latest in a long history of attempts, often ad hominem, to discredit or undermine the scientists and lawyers who cast doubt on cosmetic talc’s safety. The most persistent line of attack is that they’re motivated by money – the fees they get for representing or testifying on behalf of plaintiffs suing for compensation. Of course, the experts who appear for the cosmetics and talc companies are also paid and, as Egilman points out, using transmission electron microscopy to test cosmetic talc for asbestos “is expensive work to do. Somebody has to pay you to do it,” he says. I’d never even heard of peritoneal mesothelioma – it takes you weeks to learn to say it Sylvia Jackson For the alleged victims, the idea that their cases are all about the money is insulting. In 2021, at the age of 34, Tennessee-based Sarah Plant was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, 10 months after the birth of her third child, when “I stopped singing to my kids ’cause I couldn’t breathe”. After surgery leading to sepsis, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (which took her away from her children for 22 weeks), she’s suing talc suppliers, cosmetic companies and J&J, “to get it off the shelves … If my children lose their mother, if my husband loses me, you try telling them it’s about money.” J&J again declined to comment. Harminder Bains, Hannah Fletcher’s solicitor, has personal experience of the devastation caused by mesothelioma: her father died of it in 2000. “I deal with every case like it was my dad’s case,” she says. Sylvia Jackson, 69, who was diagnosed last year with peritoneal mesothelioma (“I’d never heard of it – it takes you weeks to learn to say it”), is suing because “we don’t have private insurance. A successful claim would allow me access to treatments which can cost tens of thousands [of pounds] and aren’t available on the NHS – that’s my main hope”. Perhaps most shocking is the fact that it doesn’t need to be this way. Another ingredient exists that performs the same function in cosmetics as talc but is incontestably safe: corn starch. Some cosmetic companies have started using it to replace talc. Just not in my products. Cosmetics companies are required by law to list their ingredients, so it wasn’t hard to start checking out the contents of my makeup bag. I gasped when I looked up my fragrance-free, much-admired Clinique eye shadow. The first ingredient? Talc. Scanning the ingredients of my Rimmel mascara, I gasped again: buried in there but clearly listed was talc. I have binned them both. Then there are the “clean beauty” brands. These vegan, cruelty-free brands are talc-free, surely? It seems not. Dr Hauschka uses talc in its cosmetics, but told me they “only use raw materials of the highest quality … the absence of asbestos has always been confirmed by our suppliers and … we regularly commission independent laboratories for testing … As a cosmetic ingredient on the skin, talc is a proven and safe component of Dr Hauschka products.” Living Nature similarly says that it “uses some of the purest talc on Earth”; while Victoria Beckham Beauty research and development “only work with manufacturers that source the mineral from companies who properly mine the ore and test and certify that their talc is free from asbestos fibres”, using optical and electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. There are a number of big-name, talc-free brands, such as Bare Minerals, Glossier and Ilia, as well as smaller ones like Zoeva, Zao and Manesi 7. While Bobbi Brown’s eponymous company uses talc, with her new brand, Jones Road, the makeup artist was “insistent on pivoting to clean beauty, and one aspect of being a clean beauty company is ensuring there is no talc in the formulas”. My daughters and I now only use talc-free products. The whole subject, though, raises the question of risk. Sarah Plant has strong views on the subject. “If anyone was asked, ‘Do you wanna wear this makeup, if there’s a chance that, if you breathe it in, some day you’re going to have a disease that could end your life within nine months?’, people aren’t gonna choose that. We make those choices based on our understanding and knowledge.” Plant was an English teacher; “My job now is literally staying alive. This is where I landed because of the information I had when making those decisions.” In 1924, Nellie Kershaw – a Lancashire textile worker – was the first person to have asbestos cited as a cause of death on her death certificate. How can it be that, 100 years on, asbestos has penetrated into our bathrooms and bedrooms? All the lawyers, doctors and people with mesothelioma I talked to want to see cosmetic talc banned; we need a mass national or international campaign to make this happen. In the meantime, we’ll have to learn to scan cosmetics labels in the way many of us now do with food labels. It would be a start. Some names have been changed

Tips to navigate summer job market for high school, college students None - Tips to navigate summer job market for high school, college students More than 2 million high school and college students are expected to work summer jobs and internships this year. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger provides tips to help students navigate the job market.

Biden calls for assault weapons ban after son's gun conviction None - President Joe Biden called for the ban of assault weapons after his son Hunter Biden was found guilty on all charges in the federal gun case. June 11, 2024

A real nut case: Cold Stone Creamery faces suit over lack of real pistachios in pistachio ice cream None - A federal judge in New York has given the go-ahead to a New York woman’s class action lawsuit which claims consumers are being duped by Cold Stone Creamery when they purchase certain flavors that “do not contain their represented ingredients.” Is it nuts to assume a scoop of pistachio ice cream should contain actual pistachios? Or how about real butter in a dish of butter pecan? Such weighty questions about a favorite summertime confection could soon be decided by the courts. A federal judge in New York has given the go-ahead to a Long Island woman's class action lawsuit that claims consumers are being duped by Cold Stone Creamery when they purchase certain flavors that “do not contain their represented ingredients.” Lead plaintiff Jenna Marie Duncan purchased her serving of pistachio ice cream from a Cold Stone Creamery store in Levittown, New York, in or around July 2022. According her lawsuit, Duncan "reasonably believed that the Pistachio ice cream she purchased from defendant contained pistachio.” But Duncan later learned after reading the company's website there were no pistachios — a member of the cashew family — in the frozen dairy product, but rather “pistachio flavoring" that's defined as a mixture of water, Ethanol, Propylene Glycol, natural and artificial flavor, Yellow 5, and Blue 1, according to the lawsuit. “When consumers purchase pistachio ice cream, they expect pistachios, not a concoction of processed ingredients,” Duncan's lawsuit reads, noting that competitors such as Haagen-Dazs use real pistachios in their ice cream. Duncan also takes issue with the ingredients in Cold Stone's mango, coconut, orange, mint, butter pecan ice creams and its orange sorbet. A message was left by The Associated Press seeking comment from Duncan's attorney. U.S. District Court Judge Gary R. Brown, whose sometimes tongue-in-cheek court ruling is sprinkled with song lyrics about ice cream — from Louis Prima's “Banana Split for My Baby” to Weird Al Yankovic's “I Love Rocky Road" — writes how the case “raises a deceptively complex question about the reasonable expectations of plaintiff and like-minded ice cream aficionados." Should a consumer ordering pistachio ice cream expect actual pistachios? “And if the answer is no, should that leave them with a bitter aftertaste,” wrote the judge, whose decision was released in May. Brown acknowledges in his ruling, which now allows the case to proceed, that Duncan's alleged claims of deceptive practices under New York's General Business Law “are plausible on their face" when it comes to the pistachio ice cream she purchased. The state's law prohibits “deceptive acts and practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce or in furnishing of any service.” Messages were left seeking comment with lawyers for Kahala Franchising LLC, the parent franchiser of nearly 1,000 Cold Stone stores worldwide. One of the lawyers declined to comment on the case when reached by The Associated Press. In court records, Kahala sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that a detailed list of the ice cream ingredients are published online. A regional director of operations for Kahala said in court records that no flavor placard at the Levittown location indicated the ice creams are “made with” any particular ingredient. For the flavors named in the lawsuit, he said “consumers are able to see for themselves there are no ‘chunks’ of what appear to be any specific ingredients in the ice cream that would indicate a particular ice cream contains a certain ingredient.” There have been numerous lawsuits filed over the years about products not living up to advertising hype, including suits against fast food restaurants for not providing big, juicy burgers or a soda not providing promised health benefits. There have also been lawsuits over products not containing ingredients they purport to contain. Brown notes in his ruling that some of these disputes have led to an “etymological analysis” over whether a word such as vanilla is being used by a company as a noun to reflect an actual ingredient in a product, or simply as an adjective to describe a flavor. But the judge acknowledged it's a tricky argument for an ice cream manufacturer to make when it comes to modern-day flavors, noting “when one orders a ‘Moose Tracks’ ice cream cone, the hoofprints of the largest member of the deer family linguistically acts as an adjective.”

Yext, CoreCivic fall; Calavo Growers, General Motors rise, Tuesday, 6/11/2024 None - Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes on Tuesday: Yext, CoreCivic fall; Calavo Growers, General Motors rise The Associated Press By The Associated Press NEW YORK -- Stocks that traded heavily or have substantial price changes on Tuesday: Fifth Third Bancorp, down 34 cents to $35.28. The bank cut its revenue growth forecast for the year. DXC Technology Co., down 11 cents to $18.34. Apollo Global and Kyndryl Holdings are reportedly considering a joint buyout offer for the technology consultancy. Yext Inc., down 1 cent to $5.03. The software developer's fiscal first-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Calavo Growers Inc., up $2.06 to $27.05. The avocado grower beat analysts' fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts. General Motors Co., up 64 cents to $48.21. The automaker's board approved a $6 billion stock buyback. CoreCivic Inc., down $2.93 to $11.86. The private prison company suspended its financial forecast for the year after losing a key government contract. Array Technologies Inc., down 85 cents to $13.14. The solar power company said its chief financial officer is leaving the company at the end of the second quarter. Academy Sports & Outdoors Inc., down $1.73 to $51.69. The sporting goods retailer's first-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Oregon closes more coastal shellfish harvesting due to 'historic high levels' of toxins None - Oregon has expanded shellfish harvesting closures along the state's coastline to include razor clams and bay clams SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon authorities have expanded shellfish harvesting closures along the state's entire coastline to include razor clams and bay clams, as already high levels of toxins that have contributed to a shellfish poisoning outbreak continue to rise. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the new closures were due to “historic high levels” of a marine biotoxin known as paralytic shellfish poisoning. The move, announced by the department in a news release on Thursday, came after state officials similarly closed the whole coast to mussel harvesting last week. Agriculture officials have also closed an additional bay on the state's southern coast to commercial oyster harvesting, bringing the total of such closures to three. Elevated levels of toxins were first detected in shellfish on the state’s central and north coasts on May 17, fish and wildlife officials said. The shellfish poisoning outbreak has sickened at least 31 people, Jonathan Modie, spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority, said in an email. The agency has asked people who have harvested or eaten Oregon shellfish since May 13 to fill out a survey that’s meant to help investigators identify the cause of the outbreak and the number of people sickened. Officials in neighboring Washington have also closed the state’s Pacific coastline to the harvesting of shellfish, including mussels, clams, scallops and oysters, a shellfish safety map produced by the Washington State Department of Health showed. Paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, is caused by saxitoxin, a naturally occurring toxin produced by algae, according to the Oregon Health Authority. People who eat shellfish contaminated with high levels of saxitoxins usually start feeling ill within 30 to 60 minutes, the agency said. Symptoms include numbness of the mouth and lips, vomiting, diarrhea, and shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat in severe cases. There is no antidote to PSP, according to the health agency. Treatment for severe cases may require mechanical ventilators to help with breathing. Authorities warn that cooking or freezing contaminated shellfish doesn’t kill the toxins and doesn’t make it safe to eat. Officials say the Oregon Department of Agriculture will continue testing for shellfish toxins at least twice a month as tides and weather permit. Reopening an area closed for biotoxins requires two consecutive tests that show toxin levels are below a certain threshold.

Production starts at Senegal's first offshore oil project None - DAKAR, Senegal -- Production has started at Senegal's first offshore oil project, the Australian group Woodside Energy said Tuesday, as the country's new government eyes higher profits from natural resources. “This is a historic day for Senegal and for Woodside,” the company’s chief executive, Meg O’Neill, said in a statement. The vessel extracting the oil is moored about 100 kilometers (60 miles) offshore at the Sangomar oil fields. The project aims to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day, the statement said. The discovery of oil and gas off the coast of Senegal in 2014 raised hopes that the industry could generate billions of dollars in revenue for the developing country and transform its economy. But the new government, which came to power earlier this year, pledged to review oil and gas contracts with foreign companies, which it described as unfavorable to Senegal. “The exploitation of our natural resources, which according to the constitution belong to the people, will receive particular attention from my government,” President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said in his first address to the nation in April. “I will proceed with the disclosure of the effective ownership of extractive companies (and) with an audit of the mining, oil, and gas sector.” At a rally in Dakar on Sunday, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko reaffirmed his administration's commitment to reviewing the contracts and promised that the country’s share will be guaranteed. “We will face multinationals,” he said. Woodside Energy has an 82% stake in the project and the state-owned energy company Petrosen holds the remainder. While Senegal’s fossil fuel output is not expected to be as great as that of bigger producers such as Nigeria, Petrosen is expecting the sector to generate more than $1 billion per year over the next three decades. “First oil from the Sangomar field marks a new era not only for our country’s industry and economy, but most importantly for our people," the general manager of Petrosen, Thierno Ly, said in the statement. The country also has a liquified natural gas project at the border with Mauritania and extraction is scheduled to begin at the end of this year. The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project -- which involves British energy giant BP, U.S. company Kosmos Energy, Mauritanian oil and gas company SHM and Petrosen -- aims to produce around 2.5 million tons of LNG per year.

Takeaways from AP analysis on the rise of world's debt-laden 'zombie' companies None - They are called zombies, companies so laden with debt that they are just stumbling by on the brink of survival, struggling to pay even the interest on their loans and often just a bad business hit away from dying off for good NEW YORK -- An Associated Press analysis found the number of publicly-traded “zombie” companies — those so laden with debt they're struggling to pay even the interest on their loans — has soared to nearly 7,000 around the world, including 2,000 in the United States. And many of them soon could be facing their day of reckoning, with due dates looming on hundreds of billions of dollars of loans they may not be able to pay back. “They’re going to get crushed,” Valens Securities Managing Director Robert Spivey said of the weakest zombies. Here are the key takeaways from the AP’s analysis: Zombies are commonly defined as companies that have failed to make enough money from operations in the past three years to pay even the interest on their loans. Their numbers have swelled because low interest rates for years allowed companies to pile up plenty of cheap debt, only to be whiplashed by stubborn inflation that has pushed borrowing costs to decade highs. AP’s analysis found their ranks in raw numbers have jumped over the past decade by a third or more in Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the U.S., including companies that run Carnival Cruise Line, JetBlue Airways, Wayfair, Peloton, Italy’s Telecom Italia and British soccer giant Manchester United. Many zombies lack deep cash reserves, and the interest they pay on many of their loans is variable, not fixed, so higher rates are hurting them right now. As the number of zombies has grown, so too has the potential damage if they are forced to file for bankruptcy or close their doors permanently. Companies in AP’s analysis employ at least 130 million people in a dozen countries. Already, the number of U.S. companies going bankrupt has hit a 14-year high, a surge expected in a recession, not an expansion. Corporate bankruptcies have also recently hit highs of a nearly a decade or more in Canada, the U.K., France and Spain. For the first few months of this year, hundreds of zombies refinanced their loans as lenders opened their wallets in anticipation that the Federal Reserve would start cutting in March. That new money helped stocks of more than 1,000 zombies in AP’s analysis rise 20% or more in the past six months. But many did not or could not refinance, and time is running out. Through the summer and into September, when many investors now expect the first and only Fed cut this year, zombies will have to pay off $1.1 trillion of loans, according to AP’s analysis, two-thirds of the total due by the end of the year. Some experts say zombies may be able to avoid layoffs, selloff of business units or collapse if central banks cut interest rates soon, though scattered defaults and bankruptcies could still drag on the economy. For its part, Wall Street isn’t panicking. Investors have been buying stock of some zombies and their “junk bonds,” loans rating agencies deem most at risk of default. While that may help zombies raise cash in the short term, investors pouring money into these securities and pushing up their prices could eventually face heavy losses. “If rates stay at this level in the near future, we’re going to see more bankruptcies,” said George Cipolloni, a fund manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management. “At some point the money comes due and they’re not going to have it. It’s game over.” The dangers of companies piling on debt has been warned about by credit rating agencies and economists for years as interest rates fell but got a big push when central banks around the world cut benchmark rates to near zero in the 2009 financial crisis and then again in the 2020-21 pandemic. It was a giant, unprecedented experiment designed to spark a borrowing binge that would help avert a worldwide depression. It also created what some economists called a credit bubble that spread far beyond zombies, with low rates that also enticed heavy borrowing by governments, consumers and bigger, healthier companies. What set many zombies apart was that their debt was not used to expand, hire or invest in technology, but on such things as buying back their own stock. These so-called repurchases allow companies to “retire” shares, or take them off the market, a way to make up for new shares created for top executives to boost their pay packages. But too many stock buybacks can drain cash from a business. That was the case in the zombie failure of Bed Bath & Beyond. The retail chain that once operated 1,500 stores struggled for years, but its heavy borrowing and decision to spend $7 billion in a decade on buybacks played a key role in its downfall. Pay for just three top executives topped $140 million, according to executive data firm Equilar, even as its stock sunk from $80 to zero. Tens of thousands of workers in all 50 states lost their jobs as the chain spiraled to its bankruptcy filing last year.

Community health centers' new crisis: The need for backup power None - The humanitarian organization Direct Relief is helping community health centers across the United States install rooftop solar and battery storage systems as they confront more frequent power outages from extreme weather and fickle grid systems HEALDSBURG, Calif. -- The 2017 Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people and destroyed 5,600 buildings, was already a stressful time at Alliance Medical Center’s clinic here, as workers who picked grapes in the nearby vineyards streamed into the nonprofit community health center with burns, symptoms of smoke inhalation, and other crises. Then, the power went out. Work at the center, about 70 miles north of San Francisco ground to a halt. Staff couldn’t access electronic health records or fill prescriptions. The refrigerators used to store medications stopped working, destroying $30,000 worth of vaccines. “We’d be fine if we never had to live through that again, but the reality is we will,” said Alliance CEO Sue Labbe. “But we’ll be prepared now.” In May, the clinic — which serves 13,000 patients per year, mostly underinsured and uninsured essential workers who labor in the wine country’s fields, hotels and restaurants — turned on a new rooftop solar and battery storage system. Dozens of solar panels, sprawled across the south- and west- facing sections of the clinic's green roof, generate enough power for the center's clinical areas, the server room that supports the electronic records, and the refrigerators that preserve crucial medications. Batteries stacked in metal closets in the building's back parking lot can keep things running for up to 15 hours after the sun goes down. The humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief paid for the $500,000 system as part of its Power for Health initiative. The six-year-old program was created to help community health centers, serving the country’s most vulnerable patients, confront more frequent power outages from extreme weather and fickle grid systems. “We assume there will be power, but that presumption is no longer as valid as it was a few years ago,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “Places that are at a high risk of outages and where there is a high dependency on these health facilities should be prepared.” Direct Relief typically donates medications and supplies to these facilities and others like them. But when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, knocking out electricity in some areas for up to 11 months, clinics on the archipelago asked for something else: power. “Before Maria, we were not a grantmaker for infrastructure projects,” said Tighe. “But it was essential to doing our mission. You can’t send drugs if they can’t keep them cold, it’s just a waste.” After that, Tighe realized unreliable power was a widespread problem for community health centers, which serve more than 30 million patients at 14,000 locations. Extreme weather was sometimes the culprit, but so were planned safety outages and rolling blackouts, when a utility cuts power during times of excess demand, like during a heat wave. The impact could be financially crippling for clinics and devastating for patients who had few or no other options for healthcare. One of Direct Relief’s partners in New Orleans lost $250,000 of vaccines after Hurricane Ida in 2021. Labbe said power became even more of an issue after the Tubbs fire, since the utility started preemptively shutting it off when the winds picked up to prevent wildfires from igniting. Then there were the weather events themselves — not just fires, but winter rainstorms. “It came to when, not if, the disasters are coming fast and furious,” she said. “This is the new normal if you’re in an area prone to natural disasters.” The Power for Health grant covers the full cost of a rooftop solar and battery storage system and five years of maintenance support. Since 2018, Direct Relief has helped install systems on 19 centers nationwide. It has 48 projects under development in eight states and Puerto Rico, including at five tribal health facilities, with a goal to raise $100 million to fund more than 200 additional energy resilience projects across the United States. Without outside support, it would be impossible for clinics like Alliance to afford systems, said Labbe. “We had been longing for solar, but we are a nonprofit with tight margins. It would come out of funds to pay for vulnerable patients,” she said. Adding rooftop solar and battery storage can save clinics money on their utility bills, too, especially in places where energy costs are rising. “The economic savings themselves will be like giving a grant every year,” said Tighe. Magali Nuñez has seen several blackouts in the three years that she has worked the front desk at the Healdsburg clinic. Once during a safety shutoff, a patient was in the middle of having his tooth drilled. He had walked to the clinic, so staff had to transport him by Lyft to another facility to finish the procedure. “It can get a little crazy,” she said. The new power source also opens up the possibility of helping patients in new ways, according to Rachel Farrell, founder and CEO of Harmony Health in Marysville, California, an hour's drive north of Sacramento. Harmony Health also installed a solar and storage system with a Direct Relief grant this spring. The clinic had experienced dozens of outages in the last several years, so many that the clinic’s vaccine fridge eventually blew out completely. “We lose so many vaccines, it’s just terrible,” she said. On top of primary and behavioral care, Harmony Health offers a birthing center, substance abuse treatment, chiropractor and acupuncture services, and a free clinic for migrants at night. Now that the backup power is installed, Farrell also wants to offer the clinic as a refuge for the community in times of extreme weather. She’s known temperatures to reach well above 110 degrees in the summer, creating a dangerous situation if air conditioners shut off in an outage. “We could be a cooling center during an emergency, where patients could come and have a safe place to be,” she said. ______ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Zelenskyy appeals for help with Ukraine's energy network as recovery conference opens None - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for short-term help in repairing his country’s electricity network and long-term investment in its energy system BERLIN -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday appealed for short-term help in repairing his country's electricity network and long-term investment in its energy system at a conference to gather support for Ukraine's recovery from the destruction wreaked by Russia’s war. Starting a week of intense diplomacy that will also see him travel to the Group of Seven summit of Ukraine's leading Western allies in Italy and a global peace summit in Switzerland, Zelenskyy also renewed his calls for more help in repelling missile attacks by Russian forces. Hours later, Zelenskyy thanked Germany for its support in a speech to lawmakers in Berlin. The two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin follows up on a similar gathering in London a year ago. The German hosts say it is bringing together 2,000 people from national and local politics, business and other areas, arguing that the task of supporting Ukraine’s recovery is too big for governments alone. Among other immediate problems, sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid in recent weeks have forced energy companies to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Zelenskyy told the conference that, in the coming month, Ukraine needs equipment for heating and electricity plants that are currently out of action. “This will allow us to respond to the situation here and now,” he said. According to the president, nine gigawatts of electricity generating capacity have been destroyed — including 80% of thermal power and one-third of hydroelectric power — while the peak consumption in Ukraine last winter was 18 gigawatts. Energy, he said, continues to be “one of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s main targets.” Looking beyond Ukraine's immediate problems, Zelenskyy said foreign investments in energy would be mutually beneficial. “Ukraine has all the natural foundations for modern energy, but without your financing and investments, we won’t be able to realize this,” he said. “This is not about grants, but about high-yield investments for your companies, about a large market for your equipment, about loan programs for your institutions,” all of which could create tens of thousands of new jobs, he added. That message was echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said the World Bank has estimated that rebuilding and modernizing Ukraine will require investments of nearly $500 billion over the next 10 years. “The reconstruction of Ukraine is and also must be a business case,” Scholz told participants. He said that is illustrated by Ukraine having exported excess electricity to the European Union since 2022 — “that makes clear what goes for the reconstruction of Ukraine as a whole: it benefits all concerned.” Scholz, whose country has become Ukraine's second-biggest weapons supplier after the United States, appealed anew to other allies to help strengthen Ukraine's air defense, “because the best reconstruction is that which doesn't have to take place.” Since Russia launched a spring offensive around Kharkiv, Zelenskyy has insisted Ukraine urgently needs seven more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. Germany and other NATO allies recently said they would allow Ukraine to use weapons they deliver to Kyiv to carry out limited attacks inside Russia. During a news conference with Scholz on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said that “it's time” to lift remaining restrictions on weapons systems supplied to Ukraine and their use. The Berlin conference also focuses on support for reforms that Ukraine has embarked on in its bid to join the EU. On Monday, the head of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayyem, announced his resignation on Facebook. He cited “systemic obstacles that prevent me from exercising my powers effectively” and accused the government of bogging his agency down in red tape. Ukraine hasn’t had a minister dedicated to reconstruction since Oleksandr Kubrakov was dismissed in May. Nayyem complained that Ukraine’s prime minister barred him from attending the Berlin conference. Zelenskyy, making his third visit to Berlin since Russia's full-scale invasion started in February 2022, stressed the “common interest” of Ukraine and Germany in Putin losing the war as he addressed the German parliament. Looking ahead to the peace summit in Switzerland, Zelenskyy said that “we want to give diplomacy a chance and have gathered around 100 countries for this." “Ukraine has never relied solely on the power of weapons," he added. All but a handful of lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany, as well as members of the new BSW party — both of which oppose weapons deliveries to Ukraine — stayed away from Zelenskyy's speech. Alternative for Germany co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said in a statement that “Ukraine doesn't need a war president now; it needs a peace president who is ready to negotiate so that the dying stops and the country has a future.” ___ Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

How to lower your cost as inflation impacts insurance None - How to lower your cost as inflation impacts insurance From cars to homes, for many Americans, one cost that is still increasing is insurance. Inflation has pushed homeowners insurance rates up 11% in 2023 alone. Jo Ling Kent explains what you can do to lower your costs.