Politicians from nine blue states in the US including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Washington have come together to devise ways to prevent the wealthy leaving for lower tax states. The answer? A “tax cartel”. Coordinating their bills, proposals include wealth taxes on those with net worth of over $50m from California Assembly Bill 259 and an 8.2% billionaires’ tax for New York Senate Bill 1570. If successful, this is aimed at stopping a mass exodus of investors from high-tax states, but will unlikely succeed. With the former Director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, dismissing such measures as a "stupid" concept, other states that have implemented wealth taxes, which this cartel has based their approach on, have faced opposition or financial problems. It is also unlikely that the states will have the jurisdiction to follow through with its plans without a constitutional challenge.
State-based preschool programs contribute to anti-marriage and anti-family bias, which in turn discourages the enrolment of families into these programs, according to researchers from think tank, The Heritage Foundation. The 26 preschool programs in states that contain penalties discouraging marriage could act as a model for how to reform the welfare system, which “imposes substantial penalties on low-income couples”, the researchers stated. They suggest implementing a sliding-fee schedule rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach to preschool benefits to reduce the cost of preschool programs and eliminate penalties that come from all-or-nothing welfare programs, which would, in turn, promote family economic self-sufficiency and stability, the researchers argued.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that the number of abortions in the US fell in 2020, after two consecutive years of increases. This decline represented the lowest rate on record since the Roe v. Wade decision. However, the abortion ratio showed a slight increase, indicating that the likelihood of women opting for abortion remained unchanged. Additionally, from 2014-2020, the abortion ratio nationally increased by 3%. The study indicates a moderate negative correlation between the number of abortion restrictions and the abortion ratio. Therefore, more abortion restrictions are associated with lower abortion ratios.
Various reasons have been suggested for why the number of abortions rose in 2018 and 2019, including a growing cultural acceptance of abortion, and privately run funds established to pay for women’s abortions. The FDA also loosened safety protocols for the abortion pill mifepristone, which likely led to an increase in overall chemical abortions. It is also unclear why the number of abortions declined in 2020 but may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study shows that while fewer abortions occurred in 2020 compared to 2019, the likelihood of women opting for abortion remained unchanged. However, as the number of pregnancies decreased in 2020, so too did the number of abortions. The percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion also remained virtually unchanged from the estimated percentage of pregnancies that ended in abortion in 2019. The study concludes that the decline in abortions indicates the resumption of the long-term trend of declining abortions in the US, but it remains to be seen if this trend will continue in the future.
The issue of billionaire private funding for the running of public elections has caused controversy in the US. The left-leaning Center for Tech and Civic Life, which issued $350m in grants during the 2020 election, established the US Alliance for Election Excellence, which has faced widespread scepticism. Despite this, 15 government authorities remain members, with the majority of states banning or restricting private financing of election administration. Several lawmakers have put forward legislation recommending a tax code amendment prohibiting tax-exempt charities from directly funding elections, which would apply to the alliance's financing approach. Recently, the Georgia legislature passed a new state election reform designed to prevent private funds from being used in elections, prompting the alliance to donate $2m to DeKalb County. In response, the loophole was swiftly closed by the legislature. In addition, Idaho, Montana and North Carolina presented bills aimed at enforcing or enhancing existing bans.
Rhyne Howard, the 2022 WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick and reigning rookie of the year, took to social media to publicly express a concern that the league's fanbase is suffering. WNBA has been keen to capitalize on the huge number of viewers that it achieved for the Final Four and the NCAA national championship game, but many of the players drafted after being popular during the same fell short and were waived before the season opener. The limited availability for the best young players has become challenging for the league's goal to grow its fan base. Christine Franklin, the executive vice president of marketing at Octagon, a sports and entertainment agency, believes that expansion opportunities must be grabbed to attract the pipeline of players coming in from NCAA to the WNBA. Without this step, WNBA risks losing potential fans for the new season because when their favorites are not seen on the roster, the fans can switch off. WNBA needs to expand to cater to the talent available, particularly the top 10 to 20 players. WNBA had its most-watched regular season in 2022, which was an increase of 16% from the previous year, with interest growing rapidly in women's sports generally, particularly competitive games, localized stories, rivalries and quality of play on the court.
Former professional cyclist Hannah Arensman has spoken out against the participation of biological males in female professional cycling. Despite winning national medals and harboring hopes of competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics, Arensman retired from the sport last December following a race in which she finished fourth behind Austin Killips, a transgender athlete still benefiting from male puberty. Killips became global news this month by becoming the first transgender cyclist to win a sanctioned stage race. Arensman has accused the relevant governing authorities of failing to take appropriate action and failing to protect the integrity of women’s professional cycling competitions. Only retired athletes have spoken out in similar terms before now, with active athletes almost universally reluctant to express their misgivings for fear of being labelled transphobic. The case echoes similar controversies in other areas of women’s sports, notably tennis and weightlifting.
777 Partners' aviation asset arm plans to invest up to $200 million in suppliers
Reuters
23-05-19 12:16
AIP Capital, the aviation asset management arm of 777 Partners, has plans to invest up to $200m in small and medium aerospace suppliers by the close of 2019. Investments may include a first lien loan, with a single investment ranging between $10m and $30m, according to AIP Capital Managing Partner Mathew Adamo. The firm has entered into a servicing agreement with 777 Partners to manage all commercial aircraft owned by the private equity firm. Though the amount is small compared to overall private equity investments, the move underscores growing interest in the supply chain.
The first fatal case of the Powassan virus in the US this year has been reported by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. From late spring to mid-autumn, the virus is most commonly transmitted to humans from the bites of infected deer, groundhog or squirrel ticks, particularly in the Great Lakes region. Up to 25 people across the country are infected each year. While most people do not experience symptoms, the disease can cause severe infections such as encephalitis or meningitis in one in ten cases. There is currently no vaccination or treatment for the virus.
The Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, has said that he plans to meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to discuss the possibility of moving the Arizona Coyotes to Hartford. The state has not had an NHL team since the Hartford Whalers left for North Carolina in 1997. The chance of the Coyotes moving to Connecticut seems unlikely with Hartford’s 48-year-old XL Center in need of a major renovation costing at least $107m, although Lamont said that the state ensures a strong market and a governmental partner for the NHL. Other possible relocation sites include Hamilton, Ontario and Kansas City.
A nominee to Connecticut’s highest court has pulled out of consideration after state lawmakers raised questions about her support for a federal appeals court position for Judge Amy Coney Barrett in a 2017 signed letter. Sandra Slack Glover withdrew her nomination from Governor Ned Lamont four days after appearing before a Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee. Glover assured lawmakers that she would not have signed the letter if she knew Barrett would later vote to overturn Roe v. Wade's abortion protections as a member of the US Supreme Court.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that four people have died and a further 14 have lost their vision due to contaminated eye drops in the US. The illness, which has affected 81 people so far, has been linked to the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is impervious to standard antibiotics. Of the patients, the majority had used certain specific brands of the drugs, many of which were subsequently recalled. Following the recall, the US Food and Drug Administration visited the Indian plant at which the drugs were manufactured and discovered issues with production and testing measures.
Alex Jones' wife and other family members will be sued by the families of Sandy Hook victims in order to satisfy $1.5 billion in judgments they won from lawsuits against the bankrupt conspiracy theorist over his lies about the deadly school massacre. Jones has been accused of hiding his assets through “financial gymnastics”, spreading money to friends, family members, and shell companies to avoid paying the judgments. The court has so far ordered about $20 million seized from the accounts of Jones and his company and has announced that Jones and the Sandy Hook families should make one last effort to reach a settlement.
The Washington Mystics defeated the New York Liberty 80-64 in the first game of the WNBA's 25th season. Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins each scored 14 points and Elena Delle Donne and Kristi Toliver added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Sabrina Ionescu scored 18 points for the Liberty, who shot just 34% from the field and turned the ball over 20 times. The Liberty added former MVPs Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart over the offseason and signed point guard Courtney Vandersloot. Jonquel Jones scored five points in 19 minutes while Vandersloot scored eight points and made six assists.
Caroline Polachek has been making music in public for almost 20 years. From fronting experimental Brooklyn band Chairlift, to writing beats for Beyoncé, and collaborating with such colourful left-field pop stars as Christine and the Queens, Grimes, and Charli XCX. Since going solo in 2017 Polachek has accomplished a daring shift towards the mainstream through a combination of vividly original songwriting and extraordinary vocal ability with the glossy values and slick visuals associated with commercial chart pop. Her aim, she tells me, is to create music that is “a bit unhinged and chaotic,” adding, “like life”.
Her most recent album, Desire, I Want to Turn into You, met universal acclaim, hailed by Rolling Stone as “what happens when pop sets out to transcend its own limits”. Caroline attributes this late-blooming success to a change less in her approach to music than in the wider perception of it. “Coming up in a band on the Brooklyn scene, everything I did was seen through the lens of DIY ‘indie rock’,” she says. “No matter how pop or polished our music became, the industry refused to view it any other way. I felt a lot of freedom going solo, to finally be seen without that kind of thick, distorting lens.”
As a live act, she is something else: unafraid to use provocative costumes or her physicality to put across her music. Caroline believes we can all benefit from “living vicariously through experiencing another human being doing something well, which is why it’s so thrilling to watch figure skating or listen to opera. By witnessing, we have an extraordinary sensory level of empathy. I think about the way I present my body to express tension, or sensuality, or things that feel alien.”
The US has failed to provide immigration assistance to most Afghans who helped American forces. The United Kingdom pledged to allow Afghans who assisted British forces to build a life in safety and security, but many are undergoing deportation. Despite the broad bipartisan support of both houses of US Congress and President Joe Biden, Congress has failed to live up to its commitments to Afghans. Most Afghans who came to the United States after the withdrawal of US military forces from the country arrived on what is called humanitarian parole, wherein people who may be otherwise ineligible for admission into the US are allowed to enter for humanitarian reasons, but in a few months, many humanitarian parolees will lose their status.
Ukrainian-Americans could have an outsized impact on the 2024 US election due to the dense distribution of their votes in a string of highly competitive areas, according to advocacy groups, strategists and a Reuters analysis of census data. Although there are only roughly one million Americans of Ukrainian heritage, in Pennsylvania and Michigan the Ukrainian-American community outstrips Trump's margin of victory in 2016. Furthermore, in at least 13 congressional districts across the US, it exceeds or roughly matches the margin of victory achieved by either party in the 2022 midterms. Republican Ukrainian-Americans are protesting at the lack of interest by top Republican lawmakers and some potential 2024 White House candidates in Ukraine's conflict with Russia. This is set in "sharp relief" to President Joe Biden's support of Ukraine and its leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A Ukraine Crisis Response Committee of Michigan is putting together a guide to recommend voting based on candidates' views on Ukraine.
The Connecticut Sun are looking to win their first WNBA championship but will have to achieve this without franchise player Jonquel Jones, who has left for the New York Liberty. They also lost former Coach and General Manager Curt Miller and guard Jasmine Thomas to Los Angeles, and fan-favourite Courtney Williams to Chicago. However, the remaining Sun players are looking on the bright side, including team leader Alyssa Thomas who stated “We still have a lot of talented players, a lot of all-stars.” New coach Stephanie White and acquisitions of veterans Rebecca Allen and Tyasha Harris add further strength to the Sun's roster.
New York City has a right to shelter, but will it establish a right to sleep outside?
The Toronto Star
23-05-21 04:07
New York City may be establishing a right to sleep in at least some public places if Mayor Eric Adams allows the “Homeless Bill of Rights” to become law. If passed, New York, a city which has for years cleared homeless encampments as they arise, would become the first big US city to establish an explicit right to sleep outside. However, this move runs against the prevailing political headwinds in other places such as Los Angeles, which passed a broad anti-camping measure two years ago. Oregon's "Right to Rest" proposal also died quietly this year after grant the right to use public spaces "without discrimination and time limitations that are based on housing status". New York's Homeless Bill of Rights would also codify the city’s longstanding right to shelter, the only one of its kind among the country’s biggest cities, with nine rights in the measure including safeguards against being forced into facilities that don’t correspond to a person’s gender identity, access to rental assistance and providing parents in shelters with diapers.
While talk therapy can be beneficial to some, it may not work for everyone. Researchers have concluded this after finding mixed results in hundreds of clinical trials, some of which reported therapy's higher probability of helping than hindering and others which suggesting the therapy only worked for some patients. Studies are limited as individual preferences, both for their suitable therapist and method of therapy, can play a part in effectiveness. Andrew Gerber, the president of a psychiatric treatment center in Connecticut, explained analysts are resistant to empirical research, as the practice of psychotherapy has been ground around the therapist and patient experience. According to The New York Times’ Susan Dominus, while some have concluded the issues surrounding talk therapy cannot be solved and interactions could only ever reach a certain standard, other experts use the results to identify better approaches.
The Connecticut Sun came from 12 points behind to beat the Washington Mystics 80-74 in the WNBA on Sunday. DeWanna Bonner led the Connecticut scoring with 21 points, while Alyssa Thomas had a double-double with 14 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists. Elena Delle Donne scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds for the Mystics, but missed a clean look that would have given the team a chance to get closer with 37 seconds remaining, before fouling out soon after. The teams will meet again in Washington on Tuesday.
