Monthly Archives: July 2017

NEW YORK

Progress is not moving fast enough to meet an ambitious set of global goals to conquer poverty, inequality and other international woes by a 2030 deadline, slowed largely by growing war and violence, the United Nations said on Monday.

Advances have been few and uneven in reducing conflict and promoting gender equality, sustainable energy, infrastructure and other key areas, the U.N. said in a report assessing the pace of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Approved in September 2015, the sweeping 15-year agenda approved by the 193 U.N. member states is a global "to-do" list to tackle such issues as climate change, education, hunger, joblessness and land degradation.

The cost of implementation has been estimated at $3 trillion a year.

"The rate of progress in many areas is far slower than needed to meet the targets by 2030," wrote U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a foreword to the 60-page report.

Intensified war and violence are critical obstacles to implementation, said Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

"Conflict has become the most insurmountable barrier to poverty eradication and sustainable development," he wrote in the report.

War and violence led to some 65.6 million people being forced from their homes at the end of 2016, an increase of about 300,000 people over the previous year, Wu wrote.

Children are disproportionately affected, he added, deprived of health care, education, safe water and shelter and often separated from their families.

Other particularly thorny problems include reducing maternal deaths, making education universally accessible to children and the representation of women in political decision-making, Guterres said in the foreword.

He also cited persistently high rates of violence against women and girls and "alarmingly" high unemployment rates among young people.

"Advancements have been uneven across regions, between the sexes, and among people of different ages, wealth and locales, including urban and rural dwellers," the report said.

Wu, at a U.N. event to release the report, said, however, he was "not that pessimistic."

He said in 2016, 22 nations volunteered for the U.N.'s review of their SDGs' progress, and that number doubled to 44 for the 2017 review.

"More and more national governments would like to get involved," he said.

Read more:

UN: Progress Too Slow on Global Goals for Sustainable Development - Voice of America

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, July 17, 2017, 2:58 PM

Mayor de Blasio used the third anniversary of Eric Garners death Monday to talk about the progress the city has made in police-community relations a notion quickly blasted by the daughter of the unarmed Staten Island man killed during a clash with cops.

His tragic death really focused this city and to some extent this nation on the work we have to do to keep police and community closer together, the reforms we have to make, de Blasio said at a police precinct opening in Queens.

And its three years later and we still have a lot of work to do in New York City and certainly all around our nation, but I can say for sure, progress has been made in this city. The reforms are taking hold, theyre deepening.

De Blasio touched on a reduction in the police departments use of stop-and-frisk, and efforts to retrain officers in de-escalation tactics.

Staten Island protesters to mark 3 years since Eric Garner death

Police Commissioner James ONeill echoed the mayors sentiments, saying the city was headed in the right direction

As far as police community relations, I think weve come a long way in the last three years, ONeill said.

But to the Garner familys chagrin, the mayor said nothing about holding responsible the officers involved in one of the citys darkest moments.

What progress? tweeted Garners daughter Erica. Training is not progress. It is a BASIC COMPONENT OF THE JOB. You mean people stopped marching about it. No progress!

Garner's family waiting for justice in third year of death probe

Protesters will mark the anniversary Monday with a demonstration at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, just blocks from where the neighborhood fixture died at the hands of a cop accused of using a banned chokehold.

28 photos view gallery

The 7 p.m. protest will renew calls for charges against the cops involved in Garners death, including Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the officer whose arm is seen around Garners neck in video that went viral after Garners death. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Pantaleo in December 2014.

Garners family has pursued federal charges and met with officials last month, but left with no indication that Pantaleo or any officers at the scene will be punished.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has advised the family since Garners death, will be a featured speaker at a service in Harlem commemorating the anniversary. Sharpton will participate in a 7 p.m. panel discussion at the First Corinthian Baptist Church on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.

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Eric Garner's daughter blasts de Blasio's talk of 'progress' on third anniversary of chokehold death - New York Daily News

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is basically a good, sound bank.

However, Wells Fargo is still going through a rough period adjusting from some bad leadership. I believe that the company will regain much of its past glory, but it is still going through a period where this needs to be confirmed.

The organization is still the most conservative large bank in the country, remaining the most retail character of all the bigger banks around. Its foundation continues to be the consumer and it still has the largest home mortgage portfolio in the private sector.

But it is still under new leadership following the sales-practice scandal that recently rocked the bank. The bank remains under a cloud to many customers and potential customers. Clouds like the one experienced by Wells Fargo takes time to clear. Bad management practices, even within only a segment of the business, must be removed and this does not happen overnight.

In the second quarter of 2017, Wells Fargo earned return on shareholders equity of 11.95 percent versus an 11.70 percent ROE in the same quarter one year ago. The slight improvement in the performance came about in a number of areas not significant enough to mention with the exception of the investment banking division, which is not a very big part of the whole firm.

This overall performance is a good one compared with the results of other large commercial banks in the United States. Wells Fargo, throughout the financial crisis beginning in 2007, the Great Recession and subsequent recovery, maintained the highest ROE of any of the largest banks in the US, although it has not returned to the 15 percent or higher return achieved earlier.

This seems to be to be an acceptable performance, given all that Wells Fargo and the industry have gone through. At its core, Wells Fargo is a pretty solid institution and when customer confidence returns, the basic drivers of a higher ROE should be the same as before the scandal.

However, Wells Fargo is still going through a transition period with the new leadership of the bank and we must still be cautious about the longer-run performance of the new management team, a team that came from within the organization. It is difficult for a troubled organization to fully change the culture of an organization and this is why I still keep a wait and see attitude towards the bank.

There remain hurdles that must be overcome.

First, Wells Fargo is still experiencing fallout from the legal battles that took place. In the second quarter, there were additional charges of $110 million related to the scandal. And, the bank faces continuing investigations that will uncover well, we dont know what yet. So the book has not been closed on the leadership problem

Second, Wells Fargo customers seem to be reluctant to fully commit to the bank at this time. There is a reluctance to deal with the bank because of past issues.

For example, lending is down, year over year, by about $1 billion. This is taking place when lending is increasing at a pretty good pace at other large banking institutions.

This drop off has been particularly noticeable in the mortgage area, one of the banks strongest areas. Mortgage banking fee income dropped 19 percent, year over year.

Third, the bank has lost more than 500 brokers since the legal agreement was reached in the cross-selling scandal and this situation has not yet fully settled down. Analysts talk about the difficulty institutions have in attracting new clients when issues like this still hang over the organization.

Bank turnarounds take time. And, although the Wells Fargo situation is not going through what might be called a "classical" bank turnaround, to me, the restructuring of an organizations culture is a turnaround. A "classical" bank turnaround has to do with restructuring the business plan, getting rid of unproductive divisions, and changing the customer base.

This is why the drivers of a higher ROE are basically in place.

In dealing with culture issues, bank management is dealing with concerns about morality, integrity, and employee attitudes. The restructuring can only be termed a success if employee satisfaction is attained and market confidence is restored.

At the present time, it does not appear to me that a full return of confidence has been achieved. Potential investors need to watch for the decline in the legal and regulatory efforts that still continue to hang around the scandal issues. They also need to watch for a return of the bank's basic business, indicating a returning confidence in the bank's business practices. And, they need to see that the employment situation in the bank stabilize along with employee comfort with management practices.

Wells Fargo leadership seems to be on the road to redemption, but it has not fully gotten back to the previous level. Operating performance, therefore, will not return to potentially attainable levels until complete confidence returns.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Wells Fargo Earnings Report: A Work In Progress - Seeking Alpha

How is the United States faring in terms of phasing out fee-for-service health care and replacing it with a value-based system? New research shows some momentum, but much work remains.

For the second year in a row,(ddx.questdiagnostics.com) Quest Diagnostics and Inovalon, a leading technology company, commissioned a study to find evidence that the needle is moving in this direction. The 2017 study, titled "Progress on the Path to Value-Based Care,"(ddx.questdiagnostics.com) was released last month.

Results of the latest study were based on the responses of 452 individuals who participated in an online survey undertaken April 7-17. Of those respondents, 302 were primary care physicians -- all employed in private practices but also affiliated with hospitals -- and 150 were health plan executives.

"Overall, the study shows progress toward valued-based care, but that progress has been slow because physicians lack the appropriate tools to close gaps in health care," said Patrick James, M.D., chief clinical officer of health plans, policy and medical affairs at Quest Diagnostics, in an interview with AAFP News.

Authors found that the percentage of surveyed physicians and health plan executives who think the U.S. health care system already has achieved value-based status increased to 29 percent in 2017 from 25 percent in 2016.

Additionally, the percentage of physicians who said they lack needed information about patients dropped from 65 percent in 2016 to 62 percent in 2017.

The survey revealed some areas of disconnect between health plan executives and physicians. For instance, 70 percent of health plan executives said progress has been made in aligning health plans and physicians in the quest for value-based care; just 47 percent of physicians agreed.

This indicates "an opportunity for greater alignment" in this area, said James.

On the other hand, a whopping 83 percent of physicians and health plan executives agreed that alignment between the two groups was crucial to providing value-based care.

When asked about the availability of tools needed to achieve valued-based care, 53 percent of health executives said physicians already had those tools, but just 43 percent of physicians agreed.

Study authors speculated that a possible reason for the "striking gap in perception" on this topic centered on "differing views about the value of EHRs" (electronic health records).

They noted that 75 percent of executives -- and just 54 percent of physicians -- said EHRs had everything physicians need.

In addition,

What's the significance of this information moving forward?

"In our study, 71 percent of physicians said they'd be willing to spend more time using technology if EHRs could yield insights unique to patients," said James. "And 87 percent of physicians and health plan executives agreed that access to quality and performance measures specific to patients would be key to achieving value-based care.

"This reveals that both physicians and payers want more from EHRs, so there is a path forward, particularly if extending the value of EHRs can lead to improved patient care and lower costs," he added.

Authors suggested that co-investment in health IT (HIT) could be the key to progress.

"Perhaps health plan executives are mindful of the significant investment required of physician practices to implement HIT solutions and the potential for co-investment to help surmount this challenge," they wrote.

James agreed and added that 85 percent of health plan executives polled in the study said that co-investment in HIT by health plans and physicians would accelerate value-based care. As an example, he said health plans are sometimes willing to shoulder the costs of technology that gives physicians actionable, patient-specific data that includes quality metrics.

"They believe that over time, it will pay off in the form of better financial performance," James said.

James described the level of progress toward value-based care this way: "The study shows that progress has been made over the past year, but obstacles still persist. Chief among them are differing perceptions of health plan executives and physicians about the tools and data needed to deliver on value-based care."

Related AAFP News Coverage MACRA: The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act

More From AAFP MACRA Basics: Prepare for the Quality Payment Program

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Researchers Assess Progress on Nation's Move to Value-Based Care - AAFP News

Firefighters assisted by helicopters and an air tanker quickly got a handle on a fast-moving vegetation fire that broke out in light to medium brush Monday afternoon in the 8000 block of Foxen Canyon Road.

Capt. Dave Zaniboni, of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said firefighters stopped the forward progress of the flames by 5:25 p.m.

The blaze, dubbed the Mesa fire, was estimated at more than 50 acres about 4:15 p.m., but a later report from an AirTac aircraft surveying the area downgraded the acreage to about 35 acres, Zaniboni said.

The wind-driven fire broke out about 2:55 p.m. near Zaca Mesa Winery and burned along both sides of Foxen Canyon Road, up through Oak Savanna Vineyard property and eastward toward the entrance to Zaca Lake Retreat.

The cause is under investigation.

When county Fire Department firefighters arrived, flames were raging through dry grass and oaks, with spot fires breaking out 50 to 100 yards ahead of the main blaze as the wind blew embers east/southeast.

The flames made a rushing sound as they consumed oak trees, sent spirals of flame up from the dry grass and poured thick smoke into the sky while they raced eastward along the hillside adjacent to the Zaka Lake access road.

First responders said with the rapid rate of spread, the fire had the potential to grow to 300 to 400 acres, and they upgraded the blaze to a two-alarm fire as County Sheriffs Office and California Highway Patrol units closed Foxen Canyon Road between Zaca Station and Alisos Canyon roads on the Santa Ynez Valley side as well as on the north side of the blaze.

Ten engines, two water tenders and two hand crews attacked the blaze, assisted by two water-dropping helicopters and four air tankers diverted from the Whittier fire, with the helicopters sucking up water from a pond just over the hill immediately south of the fire.

A crew of half a dozen firefighters also was delivered to the site by helicopter and began trekking east along the Zaca Lake access road.

It looks like theyre going to knock this one down pretty quick, said Larry Saarloos of Windmill Ranch & Vineyard on Ballard Canyon Road, one of a number of local ranchers, vineyard owners and residents who stopped their pickup trucks along Foxen Canyon Road to watch firefighters attack the blaze.

But theyve got some good water service here, Saarloos added, referring to the nearby pond where the helicopters could refill, then return to the fire lines in a matter of minutes.

Zaniboni predicted the flames would run out of fuel as they burned toward grazed-off fields and vineyard property, and indeed they ground to a halt under the aerial assault and lack of fuels half a mile or so east.

Zaniboni said no structures were damaged or threatened.

He added that crews would stay on the fire overnight for mop-up and to watch for hot spots.

Lee Central Coast Newspapers reporter April Charltoncontributed to this story. Follow her on Twitter@WordsDawn.

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Firefighters halt forward progress of Mesa fire at 35 acres - Lompoc Record

The United States and Russia have reached a cease-fire agreement in Syria, but the ramifications of the deal will almost certainly be less drastic than many would like. The July 7 accord covers the southwestern Syrian provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Sweida, and marks a new level of cooperation between the United States and Russia in Syria. Prior to their bargain, coordination had been limited to deconfliction mechanisms aimed at preventing an accidental skirmish between the U.S.-led coalition and Russian-backed forces in the country.

The White House has made it clear that it hopes to use the agreement as a way to breathe new life into negotiations with the Kremlin on settling the ongoing conflict. But the end of the civil war remains a distinctly distant prospect, especially since the new cease-fire deal already has been violated several times in the past week.

The United States' newfound willingness to work with Russia in Syria didn't come out of nowhere. As the battle or at least, the conventional battle against the Islamic State reaches its final phases in Iraq and Syria, Washington can no longer escape the fact that it needs to plan for the aftermath. Based on the Islamic State's emergence in Iraq after the United States left, the extremist group will likely remain a persistent insurgent force for years to come, even after its conventional battlefield defeat. Absent a comprehensive and successful effort to at least stabilize Syria, the Islamic State and other extremist groups will continue benefiting from the security vacuum and chaos in the country. Indeed, it could easily rebuild and re-emerge as a powerful force: In Syria, the Islamic State already has been able to expand its power in less critical areas of the country while its enemies were distracted with one another.

It's abundantly clear that there needs to be a comprehensive stabilization effort in Syria, but whether Washington and Moscow can work together toward that goal is not as evident. A number of past cease-fire agreements spearheaded by the United States and Russia have collapsed amid bitter recriminations and violations. And beyond the implementation of the cease-fire, there is little evidence suggesting that Russia is truly interested in the same goals in Syria as the United States. Washington sees an eventual move away from Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government and toward a less divisive transitional government as a necessary step to repair damaged relations between loyalist factions and the opposition. But Moscow seems less willing to go out of its way in pushing for the dissolution of an allied government in Damascus. Moreover, as U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized in his recent address in Poland, the United States is aiming for a political solution in Syria that limits Iran's influence and reach. Considering Moscow has worked closely with Tehran on a number of fronts in Syria, it is unlikely Russia would share that same objective.

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For the U.S. and Russia, True Progress in Syria Is Still a Distant ... - STRATFOR