Monthly Archives: June 2021

They called it a conspiracy theory. But Alina Chan tweeted life into the idea that the virus came from a lab. – MIT Technology Review

Posted: June 28, 2021 at 9:44 pm

The obvious problem with the lab-leak theory, though, is that there remains no concrete evidence for it. Chan has no particular view about how exactly an accident might have happenedwhether a student got sick in a bat cave, say, or secret research to infect mice with a novel virus went awry. After reading Chans posts, I noticed that many of her claims dont even relate to direct evidence at all; more often, they revolve around its absence. She tends to point out things that Chinese researchers didnt do or say, important facts they did not quickly reveal, the infected market animal they never found, or a database thats no longer online. Shes plainly suggesting there is a cover-upand, therefore, a plot to conceal the truth.

Last February, when leading scientists convened to analyze the virus genome, they ended up publishing two letters. One, in The Lancet, dismissed the lab-accident possibility outright as a conspiracy theory (its authors included a scientist who funded research at the Wuhan lab). The other was the Proximal Origins letter in Nature Medicine, coauthored by Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Andersen and his coauthors looked at the genome of the virus and marshaled arguments for why it was very likely a natural occurrencebacked by evidence that it was similar to others found in nature.

The 30,000 genetic letters in that genome remain the most widely studied clue to the viruss origin. Coronaviruses frequently swap partsa phenomenon called recombination. Andersen found that all the components of the virus had been seen before in samples collected over the years from animals. Evolution could have produced it, he believed. The Wuhan Institute had been genetically engineering bat viruses for scientific experiments, but the SARS-CoV-2 genome did not match any of the favorite chassis viruses used in those experiments, and it did not contain any other obvious sign of engineering.

According to Clarivate, an analytics company, the Nature Medicine letter was the 55th most cited article of 2020, with over 1,300 citations in the journals tracked. Email records would later show that starting in January 2020, the letter had been the subject of urgent, high-level messages and conference calls between the letters authors, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; top virologists; and the head of the Wellcome Trust, a major pharmaceutical research funding organization in the United Kingdom. Early on, the authors had worried that the virus looked suspicious before quickly coming together around a scientific analysis supporting a natural cause. Initially one of their aims was to quash rumors that the virus was a bioweapon or a result of engineering gone wrong, but they ended up going further, writing: We do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.

Working from her home in Massachusetts, Chan soon found a way to revive the lab-accident theory by looking for differences with SARS, a similar virus that broke out in 2002 but caused only about 8,000 illnesses. With Shing Zhan, a bioinformatics specialist at the University of British Columbia, Chan looked at the early human cases of covid and saw that the new virus hadnt mutated as fast as SARS had. If it were an animal virus from a market, she thought, its genome would show signs of adjusting more quickly to fit its brand-new human host. She prepared an analysis arguing that the virus was pre-adapted to humans and offered some theories as to why. Maybe it had been spreading undetected in people elsewhere in China. Or maybe, she thought, it had been growing in a lab somewhere, perhaps multiplying in human cells or in transgenic mice that had had human genes spliced into them.

The chance that a non-engineered virus could have adapted to humans while being studied in a laboratory, she wrote, should be considered, regardless of how likely or unlikely.

On May 2, 2020, Chan posted a preprint paper, coauthored with Deverman and Zhan, to the website bioRxiv, an online venue for quickly communicating results that havent yet been reviewed by other scientists. Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission, they wrote. The Broad Institute communications department also pointed Chan to examples of how to compose a tweetorial, a daisy chain of posts, with pictures, that present a compact scientific argument to a wider public. She posted her first tweetorial the following day.

For journalists suspicious about Chinas handling of the virus, the threadand those that followedwere dynamite. Here was an actual scientist at Americas biggest gene center who was explaining why the official story might be wrong. Coronavirus did NOT come from animals in Wuhan market, screamed a Mail on Sunday headline, in what became Chans first breakout into the public conversation.

While her report was a media success, what the Daily Mail described as Chans landmark paper has still never been formally accepted by a scientific journal. Chan says thats because of censorship due to her raising the lab-origin possibility. Eisen of UC Davis, however, thinks Chans expectations for how the covid-19 virus should have behaved remain conjecture. He doesnt think weve traced enough outbreaks in enough molecular detail to really know what's normal. And, he notes, covid-19 has continued to change and adapt.

My colleagues said, This is a conspiracydont bother. I said, No, I am going to treat this like any other paper, says Eisen, who took time to study the manuscript. I think its interesting what she tried to do, but I am not convinced by the conclusion, and I think the inferences were wrong. I do commend her for posting it. Many of the people pushing the lab-origin theory are not making claims based on logic, but she presented her evidence. I dont agree with it, but that is science.

Wrong or right, though, the word Chan usedpre-adaptedsent shivers up the spine of people like author Nicholson Baker. We were dealing with a disease that was exceptionally good, right out of the gate, at chewing up human airways, says Baker, who got in touch with Chan to learn more. Several months later, in January of this year, Baker would publish a lengthy report in New York magazine saying hed become convinced a laboratory accident was to blame. He cited a variety of sources, including Chan.

Chan wasnt done knocking holes in the natural-origins narrative. She next took on four papers that had been rapidly published early in 2020, two of them in Nature, describing viruses in pangolinsendangered scale-covered mammals sometimes eaten as delicacies in Chinathat shared similarities to SARS-CoV-2. If researchers could find all the components of the pandemic virus, especially in wild animals illegally trafficked as food, they could cinch the case for a spillover from nature, given the way coronaviruses swap parts. The pangolin papers, published in quick succession in early 2020, were a promising start. To the authors of Proximal Origins, these similar viruses offered strong and parsimonious evidence for natural emergence.

Chan and Zhan noticed that all the papers described the same batch of animalseven though some failed to acknowledge the overlap. One even relabeled the data, which made it appear novel. To Chan, that wasnt just sloppy work or scientific misconduct. There could, she believed, have been coordination between the overlapping authors of all these papers, some of whom had published together before. She created the hashtag #pangolinpaperscalling to mind the Panama Papers, documents that exposed secret offshore financial dealings.

Maybe, she thought, researchers were now laundering data to make it seem that nature was swimming with similar viruses.

Chan started emailing authors and journals to get the raw data she needed to more fully analyze what they had done. Making such data available is usually a condition of publication, but it can still be hard to obtain. After what she calls months of stonewalling, Chan finally lost her cool and blasted an accusation out from her browser. I need the scientists + editors who are directly or indirectly covering up severe research integrity issues surrounding some of the key SARS-2-like viruses to stop and think for a bit, she posted to Twitter. If your actions obscure SARS2 origins, you're playing a hand in the death of millions of people.

Eddie Holmes, a prominent Australian virologist and coauthor of one of those papers (as well as Proximal Origins), called the tweet one of most despicable things I read on the origins issue. He felt accused, but he wondered what he was being accused of, since his paper had correctly accounted for its pangolin data sources. Holmes then circulated an intricate time line prepared by Chan of the publication dates and past connections between the authors. The charts dense web of arrows and connections bore an unmistakable resemblance to an obsessives cork board covered with red string and thumbtacks.

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They called it a conspiracy theory. But Alina Chan tweeted life into the idea that the virus came from a lab. - MIT Technology Review

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Improving Zoonotic Disease Prevention and Livestock Production through Nuclear-derived Techniques Discussed at FAO/IAEA Meeting | IAEA – International…

Posted: at 9:44 pm

A symposium organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened today focusing on the prevention of animal disease outbreaks that can cause human pandemics like COVID-19, as well as ways to boost sustainable animal production to feed growing populations.

The week-long International Symposium on Sustainable Animal Production and Health virtually brings together over 2000 experts in veterinary medicine, genetics and biochemistry, among other scientific fields, to discuss topics such as emergency preparedness and response to outbreaks, advances in animal disease vaccine development and the latest tools to improve livestock production, breeding and feed.

The IAEAs mandate to promote nuclear technologies and their peaceful applications is especially important in health, food and agriculture, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in his opening remarks.

Sustainable animal production and animal health systems are essential to attain the Four Betters better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind, said FAO Director General Qu Dongyu. Protecting animal health under the One Health framework is at the core of our work. This Symposium is an excellent platform to discuss progress, but more importantly, to envisage the future, he added.

The IAEA Animal Production and Health Laboratory plays a critical role in implementing the programmes of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and has supported vital research and development work to help countries tackle animal and zoonotic diseases such as Avian flu, African swine fever, Zika and Ebola in the past decade. More recently, it has been at the centre of the IAEAs assistance to 130 Member States in their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Building on this experience, last year the IAEA launched the Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action (ZODIAC) initiative to support countries in the use of nuclear and nuclear-derived techniques for the timely detection and control of pathogens at the animal-human interface. The IAEA is staying present and offering this platform with a nuclear-specific component, Director General Grossi said while recalling past Agency assistance to the international community in battles against significant outbreaks. The IAEA, together with FAO and the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), will continue to tackle zoonoses, he said.

The world is looking to us to produce synergies and provide leadership for a One Health approach that prevents future pandemics originating from animal sources, FAO Director General Qu Dongyu said.

With livestock production systems becoming more intensified in many parts of the world to meet demands for animal-based foods, the symposium will address the challenges and potential strategies for controlling emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, especially with the One Health approach. One Health recognizes the interconnectedness of the health of people, animals and the environment, and this multidisciplinary approach is essential to achieve optimal planetary health and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Ten-year anniversary of the eradication of rinderpest disease

The Symposium marks ten years since the successful eradication of rinderpest the second viral disease to have been defeated globally after smallpox was eliminated in 1980. For centuries, the cattle and wild animal pest seriously threatened food security, especially in Africa and Asia. Its eradication was declared in 2011 by the OIE, following an international effort that benefited from FAO and IAEA support to develop tools to quickly detect and efficiently monitor rinderpest cases in the field.

"The eradication of rinderpest is a perfect example of the effectiveness of well-built partnerships, OIE Director General Monique Eloit said in her opening remarks. Surveillance, she added, is an essential component of disease prevention along with vaccines, and the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre plays a key role in this regard, supporting the overarching goals of the OIE and FAO.

Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture

First established in 1964, the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre operates five laboratories that help countries in the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques to improve global food security and sustainable agriculture worldwide. Located at the IAEA Seibersdorf facility, 35 km south of the Austrian capital Vienna, these laboratories carry out research and development, and provide guidance and training to scientists from around the world.

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New research: Disparities in respiratory health have persisted or widened in the US in the last 60 years – Generocity

Posted: at 9:44 pm

This article first appeared on The Journalists Resource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Titled Socioeconomic Inequality in Respiratory Health in the U.S. from 1959 to 2018, the study isnt the first to show that lower income and education are associated with respiratory diseases like asthma or poorer lung health. But its noteworthy in that it looks at these trends over a long span of time, showing that even though air qualityhas improvedand smoking rateshave droppedover the past 60 years, disparities in respiratory health have persisted and the improvements havent been equitably enjoyed, according to the study.

Poor lung health reduces quality of life and is associated with an increased risk of death due todisease or harmful exposure, so a widening gap in lung function based on income and education can also mean a widening gap in life expectancy between poorer and richer Americans in the 21st century, the authors write.

"Our lungs can be a mirror of the inequalities in our society and they reflect the hazards that we face because of our (socioeconomic) position."Dr. Adam Gaffney

Our lungs can be a mirror of the inequalities in our society and they reflect the hazards that we face because of our [socioeconomic] position, says the studys lead authorDr. Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The study doesnt include data from 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and shined a light on existing disparities. But it highlights the magnitude of this problem and I think its an important first step to develop more solutions and address these disparities, saysDr. Sarath Raju, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, who wasnt involved in the study but wrote aninvited commentaryon it inJAMA Internal Medicinealong withDr. Emily Brigham, also an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins.

NHANESis an annual survey of about 7,000 randomly selected residents across the U.S. each year. Itcombines interviews and physical exams of participants. The survey, which is a representative of the U.S. population, is a major part of the National Center for Health Statistics, under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In total, the study included 215,399 individuals between ages 6 and 74 years old.

The researchers defined socioeconomic status by family income and adult educational achievement. They used thresholds from the U.S. Census Bureau to create family income quintiles. They categorized education as less than high school, high school, some college and college.

They looked at three types of pulmonary outcomes: Respiratory symptoms including shortness of breath, persistent cough and wheezing; respiratory diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and lung volumes, measured by a standard clinical device called a spirometer.

They also looked at trends in socioeconomic disparities and prevalence of tobacco smoking among adults.

Researchers thenexamined time trends for each income and education group in the prevalence of current or former smoking, each respiratory symptom, asthma and COPD, and lung function.

Their analysis showed that income and education disparities in smoking behavior widened between 1971 and 2018.

Between 1971 and 1975, 63% of adults in the top-fifth of the income scale were current/former smokers, compared with 56% in the bottom fifth. By the 2017 to 2018 time period, the corresponding figures were 34% for the top fifth and 58% for the bottom fifth, the authors write.

The new study adds to the existing body of research linking lower socioeconomic status to worse respiratory health outcomes.

Socioeconomic disparities for respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath and wheezing also widened.

Between 1971 and 1975, 44.5% of those in the bottom fifth of the income scale had shortness of breath compared with 26% in the highest income individuals, an 18% difference. In 2017 to 2018, the corresponding proportions were 48% and 28%, a 20% difference, the authors write. They found similarly persistent disparities by education.

Researchers also found that income and education-based disparities in persistent cough widened, and even though wheezing rates fell among the highest income and education group, they remained relatively stable among people with lowest levels of income and education.

Among children, asthma prevalence rose in all income groups after 1980, but increased more sharply among poorer children, researchers found.

Among children aged 6 to 11 years, asthma prevalence was 3% to 4% in all income groups between 1976 to 1980, and the difference between the poorest and wealthiest was nonsignificant. By 2017 to 2018, asthma prevalence among younger children was 14.8% in the poorest group, compared with 6.8% in the wealthiest.

Researchers found a similar pattern among adults with asthma.

For COPD, disparities based on income also widened, from 4.5% difference in 1971 to 11.3% in 2018.

Disparities in most lung function measurements also widened, the analysis showed.

The new study adds to theexistingbody of research linking lower socioeconomic status to worse respiratory health outcomes.

Dr. Juan Celedn, the immediate past-president of the American Thoracic Society, isnt surprised by these findings, given the economic trends in recent decades.

Economic data shows that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, says Celedn, division chief of pulmonary medicine at UPMC Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh and a professor of medicine, epidemiology and human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh.

The study did not include race, although theres evidence that those gaps have also continued to persist.

In the 2015 study, Time Trends in Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Asthma Prevalence in the United States From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Study (19992011), published in theAmerican Journal of Public Health, researchers showed that disparities in asthma prevalence by race and ethnicity increased between minority groups and whites in that decade. Blacks and Puerto Rican Hispanics were most affected, the study showed.

(Generocity graphic)

Several studies have shown an association between respiratory health andsocioeconomic status,race and ethnicity, and place of living, includingrural versus urban areas.

Some of the drivers for these disparities are smoking, air pollution, exposure to dust and gases in the workplace, nutritional deficiencies and lack of access to health care, Gaffney and colleagues write.

Add to those education and income.

Education signifies familial and personal resources, material and intellectual; education may also influence occupation and promote health literacy, Raju and Brigham write in their invited commentary Lung Health Disparities in Time.

Income often mirrors education and also increases access to health resources and allows for adjustment of personal and family environment, they write.

Meanwhile, even though air quality has improved and so have occupational exposures with the establishment ofOccupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) in 1971, individuals with lower socioeconomic status and racial and ethnic minorities still face more workplace hazards and reside in more polluted neighborhoods, according to the study authors.

"Minorities and the poor are more likely to live close to a highway. And why do they live there? It goes back to things like poverty, segregation and redlining."Dr. Juan Celedn

Think about air pollution, says Celedn, who wasnt involved in the newJAMAstudy. In this country, minorities and the poor are more likely to live close to a highway. And why do they live there? It goes back to things like poverty, segregation andredlining.

In the May 2021 study Racial Segregation and Respiratory Outcomes among Urban Black Residents with and at Risk of COPD, published in theAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, researchers write that when two or more racial groups live separately,kept apartby housing policies, legislations, racism and discrimination, it may lead to worse health outcomes due to economic opportunities, social isolation, discrimination and environmental exposure.

In the 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper Is It Who You Are or Where You Live? Residential Segregation and Racial Gaps in Childhood Asthma, Diane Alexander and Janet Currie show that place of living plays an important role in explaining disparities in childhood asthma rates, in addition to low birth weight, poverty and smoking.

Clearly, understanding what aspects of neighborhoods contribute most to these disparities is key to reducing the racial gap in asthma, and potentially in other health conditions, they write.

There also appear to be respiratory health disparities in rural versus urban areas.

In their 2019 study, Rural Residence and Poverty Are Independent Risk Factors for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the United States, Raju and colleagues show that people living in rural communities were more likely to have COPD than their urban counterparts, even after accounting for poverty and health insurance status.

Development of respiratory diseases including COPD and asthma have to do with lifetime exposures to factors that can happen early in life and impact lung development much later, says Raju.

Low-income communities historically have had a higher prevalence of exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollution, poor nutrition, low birth weight and childhood respiratory infections, all of which can contribute to increase risk of COPD and poor lung health, Raju and colleagues write.

Smoking is another driver of lung health disparities.

In the 2020 study Disparities in current cigarette smoking among US adults, 20022016, published in the journalTobacco Control, researchers show that even though smoking rates had declined over the study period, overall disparities in prevalence of cigarette smoking grew even wider or remained unchanged.

Some of these disparities are driven by a higher density of tobacco stores in low-income neighborhoods, tobacco advertising thats targeted to low-income communities,including menthol cigarettes, and barriers in accessing smoking cessation resources.

People in these communities try just as hard to quit smoking but theyre much less successful, says Raju, due to barriers such as access to resources for smoking cessation programs.

Lack of funding for research is another source of persisting disparities, says Celedn, citing the example of funding forsickle cell disease, which affects mostly Black people, andcystic fibrosis, which affects mostly white people. Both have genetic causes.

In the 2020 study Comparison of U.S. Federal and Foundation Funding of Research for Sickle Cell Disease and Cystic Fibrosis and Factors Associated with Research Productivity, published inJAMA Network Open, researchers found that even though sickle cell disease is three times as prevalent as cystic fibrosis, affecting nearly100,000 Americans, federal funding for both was about the same between 2008 and 2018.

The study also showed disparities in funding from foundations and philanthropy.

The study also showed disparities in funding from foundations and philanthropy. Between 2008 and 2017, the mean expenditure by cystic fibrosis foundations were $231 million, compared with $9 million by sickle cell foundations. The total funding per cystic fibrosis patient was $10,600, compared with $942 for patients with sickle cell disease.

Another issue is lack of diversity among researchers and health-care professionals. People who are minorities tend to do more research on minority groups, Celedn says. Also, minority physicians are more likely to practice in underserved communities.

The American Thoracic Society, for instance, created the Health Equality Subcommittee in 2013 and since then has held workshops and published several papers, including one about its role inaddressing the racial and ethnic disparitiesin the pandemic.

Meanwhile, in April, the Food and Drug Administrationannouncedthat its planning to ban all menthol and flavored cigarettes within the next year.The agency didnt announce a specific date.

With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products, said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock in astatement.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has shineda light on health disparitiesin the U.S., it has also helped the medical community to rethink the way it can deliver care and how it can reach out to different communities, researcher says.

COVID revealed pulmonary inequalities, says Gaffney. I would hope that this experience and this kind of research help push us towards the policies that we need to ensure that everyone can live a healthier life and bring us to a state of health equity.

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What Should Worry Democrats on Path to Midterms – The Wall Street Journal

Posted: at 9:44 pm

Almost six months into President Bidens first year, some yellow warning lights are flashing for Democrats.

The presidents party has plenty to feel good about, to be sure. The economys recovery from the coronavirus slide is proceeding apace, and the stock market, which former President Donald Trump predicted would collapse upon his departure, actually is up 10% since the Biden inaugural. Mr. Bidens approval ratings are solid, and the infrastructure deal struck last week with Senate Republicans has the potential to become a long-sought bipartisan achievement.

Yet Democrats control Congress by the narrowest of margins, and face a Republican congressional leadership intent, above all, on winning back control in next years midterm elections. They are probing for Democratic weak spotsand finding some.

Mr. Bidens win last year masked Democrats continuing problems with working-class voters, the partys traditional base. Despite his image as a working-class kind of guy, Mr. Biden actually won a lower share of the working-class vote, both white and nonwhite, than did former President Barack Obama in 2012, according to data compiled by Catalist, a Democratic analytics firm. Meantime, House Democratic candidates underperformed Mr. Biden slightly among white working-class voters.

Some new political currents threaten to continue that trend. Over time, Democrats have lost some working-class voters for cultural reasons, and the woke rhetoric among party progressives may exacerbate that problem. Thats why so many Republicans are using the spread of critical race theorywhich advances the argument that America remains in the grip of systemic racismas a cudgel against Democrats.

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Democrats try to block Abbott from using COVID funds on border wall – Houston Chronicle

Posted: at 9:44 pm

WASHINGTON As Gov. Greg Abbott tries to raise cash so the state can pick up building former President Donald Trumps border wall, Texas Democrats are trying to keep him from tapping into more than $15 billion in COVID relief funding the federal government is sending to Texas.

Every Texas Democrat in Congress signed a letter on Monday urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take steps to block Abbott from using COVID relief funding on border barriers, asking her to issue a formal rule making clear that recovery funding cannot be used for a border wall, fence, or similar installation. They also say the Treasury needs to make rules ensuring the money cant be used to replenish state funding spent on a border barrier.

Its the latest in an ongoing battle over record numbers of migrants crossing the border and encountering border patrol a fight in which Abbott seeks to lead the GOP on a national level as he pushes to have the state of Texas finish the border wall and begin arresting migrants. Abbott also moved to revoke state licenses from shelters housing migrant children as he declared an emergency in counties along the border earlier this month.

APPROVAL GAP: Texans agree with Gov. Abbott over Biden on border response, poll finds

The governor who will tour parts of the border with Trump this week on Monday tweeted out a video of a tractor clearing brush, declaring that building the border barrier has begun.

But Democrats point out that Abbott has so far identified just a fraction of what it would cost to fill the gaps of the border barrier, and they fear he plans to use federal money to reimburse state funding hes already started to pull for the project.

With no Republican support, we approved $350 billion in the American Rescue Plan for eligible state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to assist local leaders, who confronted pandemic challenges, and to assist with economic and job recovery, the 13 Texas Democrats in Congress wrote in a letter to Yellen. We are concerned by the prospect of Texas Governor Greg Abbotts potential misuse of these funds to continue the misguided plans of President Trump to extend a wall along the border between Texas and Mexico.

A spokeswoman for Abbott said he still plans to call a special legislative session in the fall for lawmakers to decide how to dole out the $15.8 billion in COVID relief Texas is set to receive so the entire Legislature can participate in the allocation process in a way that best serves all Texans.

The governor will work with the Legislature during that special session to determine the most effective use of those federal funds to address the needs of Texans, Renae Eze said.

Abbott has directed that $250 million be taken from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a down payment for the wall and his office reported raising $450,000 in private donations as Abbott has stressed crowdsourcing will be key to funding the effort. Abbott said the $250 million will go toward hiring a project manager, who will eventually provide a full cost and timeline for the project.

The former administration devoted about $2.8 billion to build or replace barriers along portions of the border in Texas, completing just 55 miles of new wall, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump officials had planned to add some 280 miles to the wall in the state. Biden stopped construction on the wall and the White House said earlier this month that some portions of the wall cost the Trump administration $46 million per mile.

[Abbott] has failed to raise enough money to construct more than a few yards, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a San Antonio Democrat, said in a statement. With so many needs in Texas, spending for a useless wall is truly outrageous. With Abbott having already wasted millions on his pseudo-border security effort, we are determined to restrain him from robbing the recovery funds to misuse for this boondoggle.

It isn't the first time congressional Democrats have asked the federal government to keep a close eye on Texas' stimulus spending decisions.

During the first round of COVID funding last year, Congress allocated $1.3 billion to support public education in Texas, but officials cut state commitments by the same amount and moved the money into the general fund.

Congress later passed another two rounds of stimulus funding that included billions more in public school money. Democrats wrote a similar letter to federal leaders in April, asking that they ensure Texas only use the cash to supplement existing funding commitments, rather than replace them.

IN-DEPTH: White House to Congress: Leave border wall funding to Texas, at up to $46M a mile

The letter comes as recent public polling in Texas shows that Abbott, running for reelection next year, has earned the approval of substantially more Texans than Biden has on the issue.

Forty six percent of Texans approve of Abbotts handling of immigration and the border, according to the survey from the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune, while just 37 percent disapprove. Just 27 percent of Texans approve of Bidens handling of the issue, meanwhile, and 57 percent disapprove.

The online poll of 1,200 residents found Texans are deeply divided on the issue along party lines as well as racial and ethnic groups. Notably, Abbott has a slight edge on the subject among Hispanic Texans, who both parties are trying to woo. Thirty nine percent approve of his handling of the border, compared to 34 percent who side with Biden.

Biden, meanwhile, has said he is working to build a more humane immigration system as his administration deals with a surge in encounters with migrants that began under the Trump administration and reached record levels this spring. The White House has focused its efforts on standing up shelters to house a record number of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border, an effort that could soon be complicated by Abbotts move to revoke state licenses from shelters housing many of them.

Abbott, who has not ruled out a run for president, has remained laser-focused on the border as he heads into a more immediate gubernatorial primary field in which at least one challenger, former state Sen. Don Huffines, was already campaigning on a border wall.

Abbott has Trumps endorsement, but Huffines has continued to hammer him over the border, saying in a statement last week that Abbott stole his wall idea and calling his plan unacceptable and impractical.

Abbotts plan also includes directing state troopers to begin arresting migrants, a move that immigration experts say is legally dubious after the Supreme Court stopped Arizona from a similar effort in 2012, ruling that only the federal government can enforce immigration law.

Cayla Harris contributed reporting from Austin.

ben.wermund@chron.com

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Democrats are divided over how to expand Medicaid in 12 states. – The New York Times

Posted: at 9:44 pm

Some Democrats are eager to build on their Affordable Care Act victories in the Supreme Court by filling a gaping hole created along the way: the lack of Medicaid coverage for millions of low-income Americans in 12 states.

But so far, Republican leaders in those states are refusing to use the health law to expand Medicaid, despite considerable financial incentives offered under the law and sweetened under the Biden administration. Some are trying to defy the will of their own voters, who passed ballot initiatives calling for expansion.

And in Washington, Democrats who want to act are divided about when and how.

Democratic House members from states that have not expanded have begun to push for the federal government to intervene and provide coverage to the four million Americans shut out of Medicaid expansion.

We cannot wait anymore, said Representative James Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, one of the holdout states. The states didnt do it. We in Congress have got to move.

But some Democrats quietly express reluctance about spending billions to fix a coverage gap created by Republican governors and legislatures when that money could go to other health care priorities. Democrats are also considering expanding Medicare, which provides coverage to older Americans, by lowering the eligibility age to 60 and covering additional benefits.

If you were thinking in strictly political terms, advocating for Medicare expansion has a lot more political gold than Medicaid expansion, said Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, which has nearly 1.5 million people shut out of Medicaid eligibility, the most of any state. But that is why we as Democrats need to redouble our efforts to focus on this vulnerable population.

How to bring coverage to Americans in those 12 states is a problem that the creators of the Affordable Care Act never anticipated. The original law expanded Medicaid in all states to cover Americans earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line ($17,420 for an individual as of 2021) and required states to provide some funding. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that provision unconstitutional and instructed the government to make the program optional.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia, all with Democratic leadership, joined the program when it began in 2014. Twenty more states have since joined, including six that used ballot initiatives to circumvent Republican legislatures and governors opposing the program.

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Americans Are Worried About Crime, But That Doesnt Mean Theyre Blaming Democrats – FiveThirtyEight

Posted: at 9:44 pm

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.

Rising murder, aggravated assault and auto theft rates have increased concern about crime among the American public. According to polling from YouGov/The Economist, the share of Americans who say crime is the most important issue facing America has increased since President Biden took office to a greater degree than any issue except national security. Relatedly, a May 22-25 Fox News poll found that 73 percent of registered voters thought there was more crime nationwide than there was a year earlier. Only 17 percent thought there was less crime, and 7 percent thought the level of crime had stayed about the same.

Fewer, but still a majority, believed crime was up in their local area, too: 54 percent, compared with 28 percent who thought there was less crime in their area and 15 percent who thought it was about the same. (Its worth noting, though, that Americans perpetually believe that crime is on the rise, even when it is not.)

A Gallup poll earlier this year also found that only 27 percent of Americans were satisfied with the nations policies to reduce or control crime, and that 65 percent were dissatisfied. Thats a big change from 2020, when 47 percent were satisfied and 49 percent were dissatisfied.

Altogether, this has sparked a narrative that the rise in violent crime poses a political problem for Democrats, who are the ruling party and also traditionally perceived as softer on crime. But at this point, its not really clear that the crime issue will hurt Democrats and anti-police progressives politically. For starters, Americans are actually pretty divided on what the best solution to stopping crime is. In a YouGov/Yahoo News poll from May 24-26, 32 percent of adults said that law enforcement is not tough enough on most offenders but about the same amount, 27 percent, said law enforcement is too tough on most offenders. (Eighteen percent thought law enforcements level of toughness was about right, while 22 percent werent sure.)

The public is also pretty sharply divided on whether Democrats or Republicans are better on the issue of crime. When asked whether Biden or former President Donald Trump has done a better job handling crime, 34 percent of respondents to the YouGov/Yahoo poll said Trump, while 32 percent said Biden. (Fifteen percent thought the two were about equally good on crime.) Of course, this just mirrors peoples existing partisan preferences a majority of Republicans preferred Trumps handling, while a majority of Democrats preferred Bidens but that just bolsters the theory that crime isnt an issue thats changing anybodys mind.

Similarly, in elections so far in 2021, it also doesnt look like crime is driving voters toward more conservative candidates. True, this weeks Democratic primary for mayor of New York City focused heavily on crime, and the winner was most likely Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, arguably the races most pro-police candidate. But there are plenty of counterexamples: In the Democratic primary for Philadelphia district attorney, incumbent Larry Krasner the George Washington of the progressive criminal-justice movement handily defeated a moderate who attempted to tie Krasners policies to Philadelphias rising crime rate. And in this months special election for New Mexicos 1st Congressional District, the Republican candidate ran what was virtually a single-issue campaign on crime and policing issues; Democrat Melanie Stansbury ended up winning by 25 percentage points, exceeding the districts D+18 partisan lean.

Its possible crime emerges as a wedge issue in the 2022 midterms. But so far, theres little evidence that it is helping one party over the other.

According to FiveThirtyEights presidential approval tracker, 52.6 percent of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, while 42.2 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of +10.5 points). At this time last week, 51.9 percent approved and 42.0 percent disapproved (a net approval rating of +9.9 points). One month ago, Biden had an approval rating of 54.3 percent and a disapproval rating of 40.3 percent, for a net approval rating of +14.0 points.

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You dont have to die in your seat: Democrats stress over aging members – POLITICO

Posted: at 9:44 pm

The older generation does not want to pass the baton. You dont have to die in your seat. Pass the baton on, said Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a 37-year-old Democrat who lives in Hastings district.

I want to make sure that Im not stepping into ageism, but we have a bench problem, he said. We have so many good young elected officials, but theyre on the bench.

DeSantis scheduling move led to howls of protest in the majority-Black district because its residents will go without elected representation for so long. But privately theres a growing realization among Florida Democrats that Hastings refusal to leave office helped enable the outcome.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the end of a legislative session at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla on April 30, 2021. | AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File

Both parties have their share of elderly members (Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley is considering running again next year for a term that would end when he is 93). But Democrats have been grappling with a noticeable generational divide within their ranks for some time President Joe Biden and top Democratic congressional leaders are all well over 70. Ten of the 12 House members over the age of 80 are Democrats.

The issue has taken on an increased urgency given the partys tenuous hold on Congress. The loss of just one Democrat would tip the balance of power in the Senate, which has heightened scrutiny of its oldest member, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who has faced recent questions about her fitness for office. She turned 88 on Tuesday. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy now 81 and running for reelection to his ninth term had a brief hospital scare in January that alarmed activists.

It was one of the few wake-up calls: Holy s---, we are one stroke or car wreck or Me Too scandal from not having a Senate majority, said Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy for the liberal think tank Data for Progress. It is the thinnest majority you can have.

Democrats have a slightly larger margin in the House, but that advantage has been whittled down in recent months by Hastings death and other departures.

Thats led to mounting frustration with the old guard, as well as a feeling of dread that the party is just a heartbeat away from losing control of at least one chamber of Congress.

Progressive activists like NoiseCat are increasingly concerned that issues important to Generation Z and millennial voters such as climate change, voting rights and criminal justice reform are stalled in the hidebound Senate, where the lack of action could depress turnout next year and flip control of one or both chambers of Congress.

Theres a generation of young progressives energized by politics, and a big question in front of the Democratic Party in terms of its ability to channel that energy is whether or not they can deliver on issues that matter to young people, NoiseCat said.

Worries about the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court where the September death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, enabled President Donald Trump to replace her with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, 49 are also coloring the debate.

Justice Stephen Breyer, 82 and one of the high courts three liberal justices, faces an organized effort to pressure him to retire and make way for a replacement.

Brian Fallon, a top Democratic operative and executive director of the advocacy group Demand Justice, said Breyers arguments for staying on the court resemble those made by Ginsburg and older politicians like Leahy, who point out that theyre still doing a good job and remain the best choices for their positions.

The big divide in the Democratic Party is as much ideological as it is generational, Fallon said, adding that its not just about policy.

It applies to how politics is conducted, beyond taxes and crime and the war on drugs, he said. Theres no more patience for the idea that the Republicans are going to negotiate in good faith.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 31-year-old progressive who won her New York seat in 2018 by defeating a longtime Democratic incumbent, reminded her Twitter followers earlier this month that the 2009 death of 77-year-old Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy stymied President Barack Obamas agenda.

During the Obama admin, folks thought wed have a 60 Dem majority for a while. It lasted 4 months, she tweeted. Dems are burning precious time & impact negotiating w/GOP who wont even vote for a Jan 6 commission. [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnells plan is to run out the clock. Its a hustle. We need to move now.

Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist and spokesperson for the group Justice Democrats, said he wants the 78-year-old president, 70-year-old Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, 70, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 81, to realize that time is ticking for everyone.

I dont inherently have a problem with a politicians age, Shahid said. The issue is that the Democratic Partys narrow control of the federal government could be upended by illness or death at any moment. That fact should be giving Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi much more urgency to get a broad agenda through Congress as quickly as possible.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, seen here in February 2021, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. | Greg Nash/Pool via AP

That would require eliminating the filibuster, though, and senators like Feinstein are cool to the idea. In 2018, then-state Sen. Kevin de Len, 54, unsuccessfully challenged her from the left in California, saying it was time for a change. But the powerful senator still managed to hold on to win a fifth term.

There is always going to be an expiration date on the value of seniority, de Len, now a Los Angeles City Council member, told POLITICO. Instead of holding power hostage to our very last days, lets use every ounce of it to help the next generation cut a path to strong leadership both within our party, and in the halls of power.

In Florida, Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 42, had the same idea when she unsuccessfully challenged Hastings in 2018 and 2020.

Cherfilus-McCormick said she respected Hastings, a beloved figure in the Black community who was first elected to Congress in 1992. But she challenged him because she said he wasnt delivering for the district and we cant sacrifice the community based on the fact that someones an icon.

With Hastings death, Cherfilus-McCormick is now running in what promises to be a crowded primary to succeed him a stark contrast to her two previous solo bids against Hastings.

Theyre jumping in because they believe its an opportunity of a lifetime, because the assumption is that you stay there until you pass. Thats something we have to deal with and confront head on, she said. What we have to deal with as a party is taking succession-planning seriously.

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Republicans are terrified of Capitol attack truths and Democrats must find out why – USA TODAY

Posted: at 9:44 pm

Let Republicans complain that the Jan. 6 investigation is unfair. The facts will speak for themselves. The evidence and testimony will tell the story.

Kurt Bardella| Opinion columnist

The last time a House speaker set up a select committee with an investigative mandate, Republican John Boehner was speaker, it was 2014, and he was launching the GOPs sixth probe of aterrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya,on Sept. 11, 2012.Now Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced shell name a select committee to look into the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. If we are to do justice to the events of Jan. 6, we must resist the temptation to compare the Benghazi and insurrection investigations.

The triggers forthese two select committee investigations could not be more different. Jan.6 was an act of domestic terrorism incited and encouraged by our own political leaders. Benghazi was an act of terrorism that exposed vulnerabilities in our foreign embassy security protocols, and Republicans turned it into away todestroy former Secretary of State Hillary Clintonafter earlier investigations had found noserious wrongdoing.

From minute one, it became clear, the purpose was to blame then-secretary of state Clinton, particularly after she became a Democratic presidential candidate," the late Rep. Elijah Cummings,the senior Democraton the Benghazi Select Committee, said in his book, "We're Better Than This." "The investigation put her under constant scrutiny, accusation, and presumed guilt at one point including an eleven-hour grilling of Secretary Clinton herself.

Cummings instincts were confirmed byHouse Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who infamously bragged to Sean Hannity that the Benghazi proceedings were part of a strategy to fight and win the 2016 presidential election.

Moreover, when terrorists stormed the Benghazi compound in Libya, resulting in the deaths of four Americans, they did not do so at the instruction of the president of the United States. They did not do so with the support of one of the two major political parties in America. They did not do so as part of a widespread disinformation campaign designed to undermine the integrity of American democracy.

The structure of the Democrats' new select committee must reflect the new reality that their Republican counterparts are engaged in an active cover-up of the events they are investigating. If Republicans in Congress wanted to be honest and equal partners in this investigation, they would have supported forming a bipartisan 9/11-style commission. Instead, they blocked it.

The Republican strategy for the Jan. 6 attack isto pretend it didnt happen.Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia hasused the phrase normal tourist visit to describe the events of a violent insurrection. Nevermind there's a photo of himon the House floor trying to barricade the doors to protect himself from those tourists. Other Republicans have labeled those who wanted to "hang Mike Pence as patriots. Its possible that some Republicans in Congress even gave tours to insurrection planners, who may have used those tours to scout the layoutof the Capitol.

Some Republicans have made a conscious decision to side with the violent Capitol rioters. Manywill attack Democrats and label the select committeea partisan witch hunt. They will complain that the committee isnt fair or equal. My advice: Let them. The facts will speak for themselves. The evidence and testimony will tell the story.

Danger ahead: January 6 Commission defeat previews failures to come on voting and elections

Asthey did with this year'simpeachment proceedings, House Democrats need to appoint their most skilled and savvy members to the select committee. Some who come to mind: Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Adam Schiff of California, Eric Swalwell of California, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ted Lieu of California, Val Demings of Florida, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Veronica Escobar of Texasand Karen Bass of California.

And the Democratic chair needs to have unilateral subpoena and deposition authority. A subpoena request from Republicansor an effort to veto a subpoenashould require a majority vote of the committee. If Republicans dont like that, just quote Benghazi Chair Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to them from 2015:I am unwilling to let the minority party veto subpoenas when it is clear they have prejudged the outcome of the investigation.

In addition, House Democratsshould strongly consider ditching the normal five-minute volleys that alternate between Democrats and Republicans. Instead, give each side a set bloc of time to ask their questions. Just like in an actual court hearing, make the witness answer questions from one side first, and then be cross-examined after.

Finally, nothing is more important than a firstimpression. The select committee'sfirst witness should be Washington Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone. Let officer Fanone tell the story of Jan.6from his firsthand perspective. Dare those law and order Republicans to tell officer Fanone that what he experienced was just a normal tourist visit. Show the world the bodycam footage depicting the moment he was brutally assaulted by these patriots.

Mark your calendar: January 6, 2025 could be the date American democracy dies

Republicans aredesperate to move on. Many are trying to convince the world that what we can readily see with our eyes and ears isnt the truth. Democrats dont have to overreach. They dont have to use fiery rhetoric. All they have to do is show the truth, the whole truthand nothing but the truth. Republicans know that, and theyre terrified of it. Its time to find out why.

Kurt Bardella, amember of USA TODAYs Board of Contributors and an adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, isa former spokesperson and senior adviser for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. Follow him on Twitter:@KurtBardella

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Democrat-Gazette photographer wins The Green Eyeshade Award – Arkansas Online

Posted: at 9:44 pm

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette photographer Tommy Metthe took the top honor in the 71st annual Green Eyeshade Awards competition. Metthes sports photography collection earned the prestigious journalism competitions The Green Eyeshade Award.

On the way to taking the overall award, his sports photography collection also placed first in Sports Photography/Newspapers and won the Print Graphics Divisions overall award.

Columnist Philip Martins criticism portfolio won first place for Criticism/All Dailies.

The newspapers Tracking Coronavirus webpage was first in Specialized Site. Honored for their work on the website were Brian Smith, Maggie McNeary, David Wilson and former employee Yutao Chen.

Other Arkansas Democrat-Gazette winners were former reporter Tony Holt, who won third place Deadline Reporting/Large Dailies for coverage of the federal execution of a Arkansas familys killer.

Reporters Joseph Flaherty and Ginny Monk and former reporter John Moritz won third place in Non-Deadline Reporting/Large Dailies for Covid Behind Bars.

Photographer Staton Breidenthal took second place in Spot News Photography/Newspapers for a collection of his breaking news photographs.

The second place in Feature Photography/Newspapers went to photographer Stephen Swofford.

The newspapers Children in Peril online presentation on child deaths by gun violence and suicide won third place in Digital Media Presentation.

Second place in the Sports Reporting/Online went to Chen and Pete Perkins for 2020 Little Rock Marathon Preview.

Democrat-Gazette staff won third place in Specialized Site for its Lives Remembered online presentation.

Since 1950, the The Green Eyeshade Awards have recognized the best journalism in the southeastern United States. The awards are conducted by Southerners from the Society of Professional Journalists and are open to print, television, radio and online journalists from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

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