Tag Archives: wednesday

Federal Court Rules North Dakota’s Extreme Abortion Ban Unconstitutional

by LatonyaEALL Posted on April 16, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Wednesday, a federal judge blocked a North Dakota law that would have banned all abortions after a heartbeat is detectable in the fetus, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The judge, Daniel Hovland, called the ban—which passed last year and was immediately challenged by the Red River Women’s Clinic, the only abortion provider in the state—”invalid and unconstitutional,” and said it would impose an “undue burden on women seeking to obtain an abortion.”

The North Dakota law is one of the most far-reaching abortion bans in the country. Many women aren’t aware that they are pregnant until well after six weeks into a pregnancy. Under the North Dakota law, those women wouldn’t be able to seek abortions at all.

North Dakota is one of several states that have pushed laws banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. In March, a federal judge struck down a similar ban Arkansas had passed last year. But losses in the courts haven’t stopped these efforts from spreading—the Alabama House passed a fetal heartbeat bill last month, and state legislatures in Wyoming, Mississippi, and Ohio have considered similar legislation in the past year.

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Federal Court Rules North Dakota’s Extreme Abortion Ban Unconstitutional

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Baseball Player Takes 2 Days of Paternity Leave. Sports Radio Goes Ballistic.

by bfys19 Posted on April 3, 2014

Mother Jones

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New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy has been getting all sorts of flak on sports radio today for missing last night’s game against the Washington Nationals. Why? Because yesterday was his second (and final) day of paternity leave, which is apparently one too many.

Murphy got word late on Sunday night that his wife was in labor, and rushed to Florida to be with her. He was there for the birth of their first child the next day, Monday, which also happened to be Opening Day. The Mets had Tuesday off, and Murphy decided to stay with his wife Wednesday before flying back in time for today’s game, also against the Nationals, which he played in. Murphy told ESPN that he and his wife decided together that it would be best for him to stay the extra day. “Having me there helped a lot, and vice versa, to take some of the load off,” he said. “It felt, for us, like the right decision to make.”

For a number of sports commentators, however, Murphy’s decision seemed ludicrous. New York-based radio host Mike Francesa kicked off the outrage yesterday afternoon, devoting his entire WFAN show to asking, exasperatedly, why on earth a man would need to take off more than the few hours during which his child is actually born. “For a baseball player, you take a day. All right. Back in the lineup the next day. What are you doing? What would you be doing? I guarantee you’re not sitting there holding you’re wife’s hand.”

“You’re a major league baseball player. You can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help,” he said. “I don’t see why you need…What are you gonna do? Are you gonna sit there and look at your wife in the hospital bed for two days? What are you gonna do?

Repeating this question at least five more times over the course of a 20-minute segment, Francesa also continued to confuse maternity and paternity leave. Noting that it’s possible for the lucky few to stagger their paternity leave rather than using it in one chunk, Francesa was dumbfounded: “What do you do? You work the next day, then you take off three months, to do what? Have a party? ‘The baby was born…But I took maternity leave three months later.’ For what? To take pictures? I mean, what would you possibly be doing? That makes no sense. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.” (The full clip is above.)

Hosts of WFAN’s “Boomer & Carton” spent their morning show today piling on to the criticism. “To me, and this is just my sensibility: 24 hours,” Craig Carton said. “You stay there, baby’s good, you have a good support system for the mom and the baby. You get your ass back to your team and you play baseball.”

Cohost and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason thought even 24 hours was too much time: “Quite frankly, I would’ve said, ‘C-section before the season starts. I need to be at Opening Day.'”

The Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio also devoted tons of airtime to scrutinizing the nondrama. Cohost Mike Golic, a former NFL defensive lineman, weighed in: “If you wanna be there for the birth of your child, I have zero problem with it. That said, when the baby is born…The baby was born on Monday. And he didn’t play in a game on Wednesday? This is just me, I would have been back playing.”

Notably, the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players association allows for three days of paternity leave. That’s better than most jobs—only about 13 percent of workplaces offer paternity leave at all, and the United States is one of four countries in the world that doesn’t mandate leave for new moms and dads.

For his part, Murphy seems to be shrugging off the criticism: “We had a really cool occasion yesterday morning, about 3 o’clock. We had our first panic session,” Murphy told ESPN. “It was just the three of us at 3 o’clock in the morning, all freaking out. He was the only one screaming. I wanted to. I wanted to scream and cry, but I don’t think that’s publicly acceptable, so I let him do it.”

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Baseball Player Takes 2 Days of Paternity Leave. Sports Radio Goes Ballistic.

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Charts: Hollywood’s White Dude Problem

by Palahnajje Posted on February 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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It’s 2014, yet women and people of color still are vastly underrepresented in the United States media landscape. A report published Wednesday by the Women’s Media Center found that, while some progress toward equality has been made, journalism and entertainment still lack a diversity of voices and a variety in representation. If the US media were a person, he’d be an old white guy.

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Charts: Hollywood’s White Dude Problem

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VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren Calls for Closing Loopholes for the Rich to Cut Student Loan Debt

by ReinaldoKirklin Posted on February 13, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on her colleagues in the Senate to reduce interest rates for Americans crushed by student loan debt, and pay for it by closing tax loopholes for the rich.

Last summer, after a rancorous debate, Congress passed a law setting interest rates for new student loans for undergrads at 3.86 percent for the coming year. (Rates were set to double to 6.8 percent.) However, the legislation did not cut interest rates for those who took out the same type of loan before July 1 of last year. Americans who financed their education earlier than that are paying off debt with interest rates of 7, 8, or 9 percent. On Wednesday, Warren joined Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a speech on the Senate floor to highlight her plan to introduce legislation that would allow Americans with high-interest student loan debt to refinance their loans at the new rates being offered to first-time borrowers this year.

“Refinancing those old loans would lower interest rates to 3.86 percent for undergraduate loans,” Warren said. “This is real money back in the pockets of people who invested in their education. Real money that will help young people find a little more financial stability as they work hard to build their futures. Real money that says that America invests in those who work to get an education.”

Warren proposed that the rate cut be paid for by closing tax loopholes for the rich. “Right now, this country essentially taxes students—by charging high interest rates that bring money into the government—while at the same time we give away far more money through a tax code riddled with loopholes and let the wealthiest individuals and corporations avoid paying a fair share,” Senator Warren said. “We can close those loopholes and put the money directly into refinancing student loans.”

The senator said the Buffet Rule—part of a tax plan proposed by President Barack Obama that would eliminate tax loopholes for the wealthy to ensure that billionaires pay at least as much in taxes as their secretaries—would be a good place to start. Many of the wealthy end up paying a lower tax rate because they earn income through investments, for example, which is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15 percent. Meanwhile, an average head of household who makes $50,000 pays about 25 percent of her income in taxes. The Buffet Rule would require millionaires to pay an effective tax rate of at least 30 percent of their gross income.

Last year, during the debate over what to do with skyrocketing student loan rates, Warren introduced her own bill that would have cut need-based undergrad loan interest rates to the same low 0.75 percent interest rate that banks pay to the Federal Reserve for short-term loans. The bill was never brought up for a vote. Warren voted against the compromise plan that Obama signed into law in August, which allows interest rates on undergrad loans to fluctuate all the way up to 8.25 percent.

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VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren Calls for Closing Loopholes for the Rich to Cut Student Loan Debt

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Wednesday Was Full of Good News for Obamacare. Here Are the Charts That Prove It.

by IngeborgTeague Posted on February 12, 2014

Mother Jones

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More Americans enrolled in Obamacare plans in January than expected, according to data released Wednesday by the Obama administration. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had expected to sign up 1,059,900 people last month. Instead, about 1.14 million people purchased health plans through the federal and state health insurance exchanges.

This is the first time since the uninsured started buying insurance on the exchanges in October that the administration has beaten a monthly enrollment goal. Here’s what that looks like, via Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post:

The January sign-up number is down from the 1.8 million people who enrolled in December, but that was expected, because many Americans wanted to sign up before the start of the new year. Since enrollment began, a total of 3.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance through the exchanges.

There was also a slight uptick in the number of young adults signing up for coverage in January. A quarter of the Americans who have enrolled so far are young people, who tend to be healthier, and who the Obama administration needs to hold down insurance costs. That’s below the 40 percent target, but the trend is moving in the right direction.

The percentage of Americans who are uninsured hit a five-year low this month, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday. Sixteen percent of adults do not have health insurance, the lowest uninsured rate since 2009.

Take a look (via Gallup):

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Wednesday Was Full of Good News for Obamacare. Here Are the Charts That Prove It.

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Boehner Struggles to Find 18 Republicans Who Don’t Want to Nuke the Economy

by LeticiaManna Posted on February 11, 2014

Mother Jones

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted defeat Tuesday morning. His chamber needs to pass a bill raising the debt ceiling by the end of the day Wednesday. House Democrats head to a retreat in Maryland on Thursday and Congress is on vacation next week for President’s Day, leaving few working days before the February 27 deadline issued by the Treasury Department. Boehner and his Republican colleagues had debated various asks they might attach to a bill raising the government’s borrowing limit—approving the Keystone Pipeline, repealing parts of Obamacare, and restoring a cut to military pensions were all considered—but by Tuesday it had become clear that the GOP couldn’t find a consensus. Boehner conceded that reality at a press conference. He’ll now have to rely on Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to, yet again, deliver the majority of the Democratic caucus to save his hide.

The only trouble? Boehner isn’t even sure if he’ll be able to eek out the bare minimum of necessary votes from his own caucus, a mere 18 votes if every Democrat approves of the clean debt ceiling raise. “If you don’t have 218, you don’t have anything,” he said. “We’re going to have to find them.”

Voting to raise the debt ceiling should be a no-brainer. The consequences of letting the government default would be catastrophic. In December, 169 House Republicans voted on the Ryan-Murray budget. To then turn around and vote against the government’s ability to pay the bills for that budget appears illogical, until you consider the pressure conservative groups will exert on any Republican who raising the debt ceiling. The Senate Conservatives Fund—a group pushing tea party challengers in primaries—quickly denounced Boehner Tuesday, calling for a coup to replace him as speaker. Heritage Action plans to hold an approving vote against Republicans in their scorecard.

Boehner won’t have much time to win over his wary colleagues. The House is scheduled to vote on the clean debt ceiling increase Tuesday night so that lawmakers can flee town before a winter storm hits Washington late Wednesday.

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Boehner Struggles to Find 18 Republicans Who Don’t Want to Nuke the Economy

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At least EPA is doing a little something to help bees

by Bob Jackson Posted on January 9, 2014

At least EPA is doing a little something to help bees

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The U.S. EPA still won’t follow Europe’s lead and suspend or ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides believed to be killing honeybees and other pollinators — to the horror of beekeepers and environmentalists, who are suing the federal government over its inaction.

But at least the agency is doing something. On Wednesday, EPA announced it was awarding $460,000 in funding for research into integrated pest management, to help reduce the use of pesticides and lower risks to bees — “all while controlling pests and saving money.”

Louisiana State University, one of the grant recipients, will use its share of the funds to investigate how bees can be protected from pesticides used to control mosquitoes. Penn State University researchers will investigate the benefits of growing crops without treating seeds with neonic pesticides.

Margaret Reeves, a scientist at the Pesticide Action Network, one of the groups suing the EPA over neonics, welcomed the research grants. “EPA’s investment in integrated pest management puts the U.S. on the path of sustainable, cutting-edge farming,” Reeves said in an emailed statement.

But she noted that the EPA needs to do much more to protect pollinators from agricultural poisons. “Environmentalists, beekeepers, and farmers alike eagerly await bolder steps by EPA that will restrict the use of bee-harming pesticides,” she said. “Without better protections, and fast, bee declines will continue at an unprecedented rate.”

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Food

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At least EPA is doing a little something to help bees

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California wins right to clamp down on carbon from gasoline, diesel

by OfeliaPPN Posted on September 19, 2013

California wins right to clamp down on carbon from gasoline, diesel

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Pick your poison. Whatever your choice, it’ll be cleaner in California.

California can finally begin forcing producers, refiners, and importers of gasoline and diesel to reduce their effect on the climate following a legal victory on Wednesday.

The state began crafting its Low Carbon Fuel Standard [PDF] in 2007 — an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of fuels sold in the state by 10 percent. The carbon footprint is calculated by considering a wide array of factors, such as transportation of the fuels to gas stations and ways in which various biofuels are cultivated.

Energy interests sued, claiming out-of-state producers were put at an unfair disadvantage because importing fuel into California increased their climate impacts. And in 2011 they won — a federal judge in Fresno said the fuel standard violated the Constitution’s commerce clause. But on Wednesday that ruling was tossed out with a 2-1 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. From the L.A. Times:

The decision allows the California Air Resources Board to begin implementing the law and restores the state’s ability to punish fuel wholesalers and refineries that sell gasoline or biofuels with carbon footprints that exceed California’s guidelines.

Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern called the decision “a very good step for Californians and the fight against climate change.”

In the first year of the program, wholesalers were to reduce the carbon footprint of their products 0.25%.

The regulations require producers, refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel to reduce the carbon footprint of their fuel by 10% over the next decade as part of California’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The appeals court found that California has every right to act to reduce carbon emissions. From the San Jose Mercury News:

“Unless and until either the United States Supreme Court or the Congress forbids it, California is entitled to proceed on the understanding that global warming is being induced by rising carbon emissions and attempt to change that trend,” wrote Judge Ronald Gould in the majority opinion. “California, if it is to have any chance to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, must be able to consider all factors that cause those emissions when it assesses alternative fuels.”

Lawyers working for environmental groups helped California defend its right to impose the standards, and they celebrated Wednesday’s ruling. Natural Resources Defense Council attorney David Pettit said the ruling would help “spur American ingenuity to produce cleaner fuels” and “reduce pollution while decreasing the state’s reliance on oil.”

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

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California wins right to clamp down on carbon from gasoline, diesel

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Deadly 1,000-year floods strike Colorado

by pawel Posted on September 13, 2013

Deadly 1,000-year floods strike Colorado

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Reuters/Mark LeffingwellWater runs freely down Topaz Drive in Boulder, Colo., as heavy rains cause severe flooding on Sept. 12, 2013.

Biblical hell has broken out in Colorado, where more than six inches of rain fell in 24 hours, contributing to flash floods that killed at least three people.

(Before you complain about our use of “biblical,” note that it’s the word federal forecasters chose to describe the flooding in an official update on the National Weather Service website.)

“It’s insane right now, I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, and this is nothing that I’ve ever, ever seen before,” Andra Coberly, spokesperson for the YMCA in Boulder, where soggy residents were taking shelter, told NBC. “Streets were turned into rivers and streams were turned into lakes.” From the NBC report:

The torrential downpours that lashed parts of Colorado drove hundreds of people from their homes, shut down Boulder and the nearby university, and had police and fire responders scrambling all day as they worked to help stranded residents in what they described as a still-developing disaster.

The bad weather also hampered rescue efforts, making it impossible to get search and rescue helicopters into the air, officials said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, and increasing the dangers for responders who tried to make their way into some of the most affected areas. About 6.8 inches of rain fell over the city in a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service.

Slate science correspondent Phil Plait reported from Boulder that the sheriff was asking people to stay inside and off the roads. His post describes the years of climatic pandemonium that culminated with this week’s deluge:

We’ve been suffering a long drought in my hometown of Boulder, Colo., including unusually hot weather for the past few summers. The ground has been pretty hard, and we’ve had fires, which reduce the vegetation. It’s been worrisome for some time, because we knew if it rained hard, we could be in trouble.

We’re in trouble.

It started raining off and on a month or more ago, but then a couple of days ago, the skies opened up. We’ve had more than an inch of rain in some places, and it’s had nowhere to go but down from the foothills of the Rockies. Boulder is now flooding; the Boulder Creek crested at 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) last night, well above its usual height.

Further afield, folks at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been poring over satellite images and other data to try to make sense of the waterlogged chaos. Their startling conclusion: “This event could be classified as a 500- to 1000-year event.”

Meteorologist Jeff Masters explained in his Weather Underground blog that “a flow of extremely moist air” from the southeast pushed up against the mountains, expanding and cooling as it climbed, “forcing the moisture in it to fall as rain.” He posted the following map, showing that rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday was not only heavy around Boulder — the inundation was regional:

wunderground.com

Radar-estimated rainfall of six to eight inches on Wednesday and Thursday shown in dark red. (Click to embiggen.)

The Boulder area may not need to wait 1,000 years for another storm like this. Coloradans have been enduring wild swings in the weather in just the last few years — parched by drought, ravaged by fire, blanketed by unseasonable snow, and now swamped with floods — near-textbook examples of the climatic extremes that global warming is expected to wreak on the world.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Cities

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Deadly 1,000-year floods strike Colorado

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Look what the gas and oil industry did to the Gulf of Mexico — again

by John Grit Posted on July 11, 2013

Look what the gas and oil industry did to the Gulf of Mexico — again

By John Upton

Sheens of oil atop the Gulf of Mexico have become a depressingly familiar sight — the result of reckless drilling by the oil and gas industry. Here is a photograph shot Wednesday of the latest such debacle. An old natural gas well off Louisiana’s coastline was being sealed shut Monday when it began leaking, 144 feet beneath the water’s surface. This photo is one of a series taken during a flight over the site by On Wings of Care, an environmental nonprofit.

On Wings of Care

From On Wings of Care’s blog post:

A badly leaking natural gas well in the Ship Shoal Lease Block #225 of the Gulf of Mexico has spread an ugly, toxic mass of oily rainbow sheen over several square miles not far from the top of Ewing Bank — an area once rich with marine life, especially large plankton feeders and many other species of marine life. We have flown that area in eight different five-to-six-hour wildlife survey flights just within the past three weeks, helping scientists find and study whale sharks. Today, despite mirror-calm seas, excellent water and air visibility, and clear blue water, we saw barely a trace of marine life in this area.

Fuel Fix reports that the well continues to leak a “briny mix” of natural gas, light condensate, and seawater:

Late Wednesday, workers were preparing to begin pumping drilling mud into the well, the first stage in an operation to kill it permanently, 15 years after it last produced gas commercially and four decades after it was drilled.

For much of the day, they were waiting for proof that gas at the platform the well serves had dropped to safe levels so that workers could board the facility. In the meantime, federal regulators and well control specialists waited at a neighboring platform.

The Coast Guard and the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said they plan to conduct an investigation.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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